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IntroductionThe Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, in collaboration with public and private entities around the Gulf of Maine, has charted a course for the protection and conservation of coastal and marine habitats in the Gulf of Maine. The Governors of Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire; the Premiers of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia; and six federal agencies with mandates in the marine environment (Environment Canada; the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Canada; the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service; the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) have agreed that this plan will help to guide state, provincial, and federal policy and budgeting decisions affecting the Gulf's coastal and marine environments. The actions outlined in this plan are the product of five years of collaborative work by researchers and scientists; environmental groups; educators; state, provincial, and federal government agencies; and individuals in Canada and the United States-particularly in Maine, Massachusetts, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, and Nova Scotia. This multi-jurisdictional collaboration on behalf of the Gulf of Maine ecosystem has been underway since the establishment of the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment by the region's governors and premiers in 1989. (See Appendix II for a description of the history of the Council, its membership, organizational structure, and general operating procedures.) This Action Plan is a sequel. The first Gulf of Maine Action Plan, adopted by the Council in 199 1, defined priorities, objectives, and a timetable for cooperative work by member jurisdictions ten years into the future. Major objectives in that plan involved Monitoring and Research, Coastal and Marine Pollution, Protection of Public Health, Habitat Protection, and Public Education and Participation. The first plan functioned as a blueprint with which to coordinate research, resource management, and conservation education in the region by emphasizing a common, Gulf-wide focus. The first Action Plan also mandated that the Council review its progress after five years and identify any adjustments that were needed to reflect changing environmental and economic trends in the bioregion. The results of that review are summarized in the Council's publication Work In Progress: Five-Year Report of the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, 1990-1995. Building Partnerships to Set PrioritiesThe genesis of this Action Plan began with the second Sustaining Our Common Heritage Conference, convened by the Gulf of Maine Council in Wolfville, Nova Scotia in July, 1994. The conference was conducted with the explicit purpose of gaining perspective and advice from the bioregion's non-governmental environmental organizations and individuals regarding the Council's work over the previous several years and to identify priorities for the next five years. More than 150 organizations and individuals were present, representing each of the Gulf of Maine watershed's state and provincial jurisdictions, in addition to representatives from related federal agencies and national conservation groups. Results from the Wolfville Conference were then augmented by a survey of 300 organizations and individuals in the region and a 1995 synthesis of recommendations from the more than thirty scientific and professional workshops that the Gulf of Maine Council either sponsored or co-sponsored during the preceding four years. The Council's evaluation process culminated in a two-day retreat to review results and recommendations and to develop plans for the Council's work in the future. The major outcome of this evaluation process was a decision to focus the Council's program activities on Gulf of Maine coastal and marine habitats for the next five years. Given the realm of statutory responsibilities of Gulf of Maine Council members in their respective jurisdictions, and drawing upon the expertise of the Council's Committees, Working Group, federal and regional partners, and related organizations and agencies within the region, the Gulf of Maine Council identified five major goals for its new coastal and marine habitat focus:
Working in Partnership for the FutureThe goals and objectives that have been developed within these priority habitat focus areas are bold and ambitious. The Gulf of Maine Council believes that achieving these goals depends in great part upon the synergy that occurs when public and private organizations and individuals work together for a common purpose. The diversity of these organizations and individuals, and their expertise and commitment to the Gulf of Maine environment, is at once incredible and encouraging. The Gulf of Maine Council is committed to building meaningful and lasting partnerships in the years ahead, and has explicitly included examples of potential partners in the Action Plan for each habitat focus area. These examples represent just a few of the many possibilities for collaboration among agencies, organizations, educators, researchers, communities, and citizens in the Gulf of Maine region. Addressing the Gulf's Ecosystem PrioritiesImplicit in this Action Plan, and the original that preceded it, is the recognition by the states and provinces bordering the Gulf that continued health of this marine ecosystem is a shared, transboundary responsibility. The Gulf is a complex network of estuaries and other marine habitats, ocean currents, interrelated nutrient and energy cycles, and natural communities that, throughout history, have comprised one of the world's most biologically productive bodies of water. Management and protection of this dynamic ecosystem and its coastal and marine habitats requires partnerships and a level of collaboration among researchers, policy makers, and resource managers that reaches across political boundaries. As in the past five years, this Action Plan maintains a focus on transboundary objectives, rather than addressing individual state, provincial, or local community issues. The site-specific strategies and actions described in this Plan are either pilot, demonstration, or education projects, yielding experiences and information that will be transferred to other jurisdictions around the Gulf, or are part of a cumulative pattern of on-the-ground protection and restoration that directly contributes toward measurable, Gulf-wide goals. Besides this emphasis on transboundary issues and partnerships, several other important operating criteria have guided the Gulf of Maine Council in developing the plan:
Setting Measurable GoalsThis Action Plan is not a static document, rather it is designed to be responsive to evolving needs and changing priorities within the framework of the Council's five major habitat goals. Implementation of the Action Plan over the next several years will produce new ideas and possibilities for achieving the objectives of coastal and marine habitat protection and sustainability. Thus, each section is viewed as a flexible framework that can be fine-tuned or reassembled as conditions in the ecosystem change and management priorities within jurisdictions are adjusted to reflect those changes. Each year, in consultation with the Working Group and the Committees on Public Education and Participation, Monitoring, and Data and Information Management, the Gulf of Maine Council will review progress in each habitat area and refine the next year's work plan as needed to maintain measurable progress toward each goal. The Action Plan is arranged by major habitat goals, and follows a sequence beginning with a description of each major goal; the reasons for the Council's focus on the particular goal and information about its importance to the Gulf of Maine ecosystem; the Council's role in relation to that goal; and the measurable objectives that have been selected in order to achieve the goal.This is followed by a more detailed examination of each objective, including specific strategies for accomplishing objectives and a series of actions within each strategy. The Gulf of Maine Council welcomes comments on this Action Plan. Council members are committed to ensuring that this document will remain up-to-date and serve as a dynamic road map for transboundary collaboration in protecting the diversity of living resources in the marine ecosystem of the Gulf of Maine. For additional information, contact the Gulf of Maine Program Secretariat (Appendix III) and learn how you can become part of the Action Plan in the years ahead.
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