Oceanography Explorer Project

This is a research project.  You may submit on traditional paper if desired, but you will receive an extra 3 points if made into an  i- Movie  and submitted on a thumb drive.


Due Date:    TUESDAY, OCTOBER 6

POINTS:  30 POINTS

DESCRIPTION:   In the project you select a place in the world along the ocean environment where you would do original research.   The constraints are that your budget including travel expenses, food, housing, insurance etc is $8000 for an eight week study.

In the project you must state your research hypothesis,  detail your experimental procedure  and then detail your itinerary and document y our expected costs to be under budget.  Your itinerary must include at least three separate locations.   You must include documentation for your expected costs.


This is an experimental design/ research project.  Both aspects will have equal value = 15 points each.  Your hypothesis must be scientific  ( This means there is a way to gather data that will support or refute the hypothesis).   You could study  an ocean animal,  a plant,  an entire ecosystem,  or human interaction in an ecosystem.

Ex.  1.  I will travel the Oaxacan  coast from Puerto Angel  to the Guatemalan border, and study the relationship between the size of  the fisherman's gill net openings and where they fish in relation to population centers.   My hypothesis is that the fisherman with larger openings  will fish outside the major centers of population where they regard the ocean as their private space, while fishermen close to population centers will use smaller openings. 

Ex 2  I will travel the French coast south of Normandy studying the health of  the marine estuary environment.  I will  be sampling both quantity and diversity of species present and comparing to historical data available.  My hypothesis is that encroachment on the marine estuary environment in France has caused a net decrease in species diversity and  total quantity of each species.


Ex 3 here is a link to the two friends who explored 400 miles of coastline in Mexico. 

Here is a $700 catamaran with a trailer and newer sail  on CL