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About the KnowledgeBase
Focus on the Gulf of Maine and its watershed
The KnowledgeBase is a geographically focused bibliographic database for the Gulf of Maine and its watershed. The KB contains references relevant to the freshwater, marine, and terrestrial environments of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia and the offshore waters of the Gulf of Maine.
Where is the Gulf of Maine and its watershed?
The Gulf of Maine is an area of the Atlantic Ocean that is bordered by the northeastern United States and eastern Canada. The coasts of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia form the western and northern boundary. Georges Bank and Browns Bank are the southern and eastern boundary.
The total land area, or watershed, that drains into the Gulf of Maine is 69,115 square miles (179,008 square kilometers) in Massachusetts, Maine, New Hampshire, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, and a small portion of Quebec.
Why focus on the Gulf of Maine and its watershed?
The Gulf of Maine is one of the most biologically productive parts of the world's oceans, renowned for its fisheries and beautiful coast. Its watershed encompasses heavily urbanized areas, numerous towns, large areas of forest, major rivers, and thousands of lakes. The region is ecologically and economically significant for the United States and Canada. Interconnections of land and sea make it necessary to consider the Gulf and its watershed together for management and policy of natural resources.
People in government, academia, and private sector seek information
Many people who work for local, state, provincial, or federal government, non-government organizations (NGOs), academic institutions, and the private sector need information about the ecology, human impacts, management, and policy of the Gulf of Maine and its watershed. Examples include resource managers who need scientific information in order to develop management strategies; muncipal staff seeking ways to address local environmental concerns; legislators needing background information on environmental issues; teachers who want educational materials for their classes; NGO personnel who need information to support their initiatives; and people involved in natural resource-related businesses. The KnowledgeBase provides a way for them to find information they need.
KB makes it easy to find science and management information
An impressive diversity of scientific and management information is available for the ecosystem of the Gulf of Maine and its watershed in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. But many of the information sources are difficult to find and obtain.
Government agencies, non-government organizations (NGOs), and academic institutions produce technical reports, Web pages, maps, conference proceedings, educational pamphlets, journal articles, fact sheets, and other materials. However, many of the publications are not cataloged in libraries. They are scattered among the Web sites and storage rooms of numerous agencies and NGOs. In addition, maps, data, and Web-based tools for the Gulf of Maine sometimes are buried in other less relevant material. Journal articles, book chapters, and theses about the Gulf of Maine typically are not cataloged according to geographic region in bibliographic databases.
To address the problem, the Gulf of Maine KnowledgeBase (KB) was developed as an easy way to find and access scientific and management information about this geographic region.
KnowledgeBase is a collaborative effort and new partners are welcome
The Gulf of Maine KnowledgeBase is a collaborative, user-driven project. Users are encouraged to contribute references. The KnowledgeBase has been developed and maintained by the
- Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment
- Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Environmental and Watershed Research at the University of Maine.
Web Services/Data Download
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