Ian Morgan
Day 4: Today was the first day that we actually went out and did things that pertained to the project. Three groups went out and set some lobster traps along various docks in Orange County. My group traveled to Seal Beach to set two dock traps, than we went to Long Beach to set two more traps. The dock traps are a little different and less time consuming to make than the deep ocean traps that we still have yet to set. They consist of a 3 foot PVC pipe with a bunch of twine zip tied in various locations along the pipe. We then used rope to secure the traps to the docks sing the cleats in order to assure an easy retrieval. We tried to secure each trap in relatively the same configuration so that any oddities in the data would not be due to human error in terms of placing the traps. The average depth of the traps at each location varied due to the different depths that the docks sat at. For the shorter docks at Seal Beach, we set the traps at about a three foot depth. For the Long Beach dock we set the traps at around six feet in depth. This was due to the fact that the docks float and their height varies with how the tides are doing. We didn't want the traps to drag on the bottom, but we also didn't want them to be too close to the surface. Overall this was the most active day in terms of actually progressing towards the goal of this project and it was nice to drive around and set all of these traps. Some of the challenges of today include trying to figure out what the best way to mount the traps would be and which materials would be the best. We also had to be careful of what kind of knots we used because the ocean waves can be quite brutal on the traps so we wanted to make sure that they were secure. Today definitely made me feel more connected to this project because the trapping began, and we weren't just preparing to do things, we actually did them.
Day 2: Today was pretty exciting because we started to dive into the project and began the assembly of traps. There were ideas laid out for us to further complete, and there were plenty of materials that we had the option to use to make our own traps. Another student and I came up with our own type of larvae trap. After sewing string through the main panels I quickly realized that I wanted create my own trap. We drilled holes in a bucket and then strung a bunch of twine through it in order for the larvae to have an environment that they could grab on too. It was very rewarding to use the tools at the school as i had never been in that part of the physics lab. It's good to know that they are there and will make future projects much easier. We plan on making the system interchange so we can always have a trap in the ocean. We plan on using some sort of weight, a steel carabiner, and rope in order to keep it anchored at the bottom of the ocean. We will use some sort of inflation device in order to keep tension on the top of our trap. I also plan on doing some research on my own about lobster traps in order to maximize the efficiency of the traps I am creating. I also plan to make some additions to the outside of the bucket in order to catch the maximum number of larvae. It is possible that we use some sort of bait in the form of food or light in order to encourage the larvae to our trap. I would have to research this more in order to have sufficient knowledge in that area. Overall this was a very productive service learning day and I am getting increasingly more excited for this service learning year.
Day 1:I am super excited for the upcoming service learning year. The past years of Service Learning at Sage have honestly not been the best. None of the things that I did or took part in interested me. I have always loved the outdoors and Coast is a very adventurous and outdoors oriented project. I love being in nature, but I find that I do not do it enough which is something that I hope this project will help me out with. I have also always had an interest in Scuba diving, but never got around to it. Working with the state parks and collecting data is something that I have never heard of a school doing. It is very unique and I believe that it sets us apart from most other service learning projects. I say this because it is not a stereotypical type of service that people would think of. The focus is going to be on lobster larva. From what I understand we are going to be creating and setting traps for these larva. The park’s goal is to understand the life cycle of lobsters which is where the service aspect of this whole project comes into play. I hope to play a large role in this in terms of actually diving and collecting material data. The aspects of this project that do not include diving also interest me. Analyzing data and figuring out the life cycles is something that I look forward to. All and all I am very excited to see where this project goes this year.
Day 2: Today was pretty exciting because we started to dive into the project and began the assembly of traps. There were ideas laid out for us to further complete, and there were plenty of materials that we had the option to use to make our own traps. Another student and I came up with our own type of larvae trap. After sewing string through the main panels I quickly realized that I wanted create my own trap. We drilled holes in a bucket and then strung a bunch of twine through it in order for the larvae to have an environment that they could grab on too. It was very rewarding to use the tools at the school as i had never been in that part of the physics lab. It's good to know that they are there and will make future projects much easier. We plan on making the system interchange so we can always have a trap in the ocean. We plan on using some sort of weight, a steel carabiner, and rope in order to keep it anchored at the bottom of the ocean. We will use some sort of inflation device in order to keep tension on the top of our trap. I also plan on doing some research on my own about lobster traps in order to maximize the efficiency of the traps I am creating. I also plan to make some additions to the outside of the bucket in order to catch the maximum number of larvae. It is possible that we use some sort of bait in the form of food or light in order to encourage the larvae to our trap. I would have to research this more in order to have sufficient knowledge in that area. Overall this was a very productive service learning day and I am getting increasingly more excited for this service learning year.
Day 1:I am super excited for the upcoming service learning year. The past years of Service Learning at Sage have honestly not been the best. None of the things that I did or took part in interested me. I have always loved the outdoors and Coast is a very adventurous and outdoors oriented project. I love being in nature, but I find that I do not do it enough which is something that I hope this project will help me out with. I have also always had an interest in Scuba diving, but never got around to it. Working with the state parks and collecting data is something that I have never heard of a school doing. It is very unique and I believe that it sets us apart from most other service learning projects. I say this because it is not a stereotypical type of service that people would think of. The focus is going to be on lobster larva. From what I understand we are going to be creating and setting traps for these larva. The park’s goal is to understand the life cycle of lobsters which is where the service aspect of this whole project comes into play. I hope to play a large role in this in terms of actually diving and collecting material data. The aspects of this project that do not include diving also interest me. Analyzing data and figuring out the life cycles is something that I look forward to. All and all I am very excited to see where this project goes this year.
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