Resources

Marine Monitoring Programs in the Gulf of Maine : An Inventory

Download the complete report in Adobe Acrobat (285 Kb).

This report presents the findings of an inventory of marine environmental quality monitoring programs in the Gulf of Maine. The inventory focuses on active and ongoing monitoring programs, including federal, state, local, volunteer, and private efforts.

This directory updates a 1989 publication titled: “Marine environmental quality monitoring programs in the Gulf of Maine: An Inventory,” prepared by the Maine State Planning Office on behalf of the Gulf of Maine Council. The purpose of this inventory is to obtain an overview of the scope of active marine monitoring in the Gulf of Maine.

This inventory utilizes a very broad definition of marine environmental monitoring: activities which provide information on the source, transport, fate and effect of contaminants in the marine environment, and supply information useful for identifying and controlling anthropogenic impacts on the environment. For the purpose of this report, any program which conducts ongoing monitoring activities in the marine environment is considered to be a monitoring program.

For purposes of this survey, the Gulf of Maine region includes Georges Bank as well as the Bay of Fundy. The seaward boundary is approximate, and extends from Cape Sable, Nova Scotia, south to the eastern limit of Georges Bank, then follows the edge of Georges Bank at about the 100 meter contour to the South Channel from which it extends northward to Monomoy Island off of Cape Cod.