The Gulf’s marine waters and shoreline habitats, bound by the coastlines of Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia, host some 2,000 species of plants and animals.

But the Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy ecosystem also has important environmental challenges, and concerned citizens from diverse backgrounds are organizing a Gulf of Maine Summit to develop Gulf-wide responses.

At the Gulf of Maine Summit we will seek to:

o Determine if conditions are getting better or worse in the Gulf of Maine.

o Develop a consensus on indicators of environmental quality.

o Develop an action plan and build partnerships to move forward.

Purposes of the Summit include:

o Building on the many local watershed forums that have been held since 2002.

o Developing a vision and plans for improving the environmental quality of the Gulf.

o Advocating for enhanced science, management, and policy.

o Celebrating 15 years of cooperation and policy development in the Gulf of Maine.

o Integrating local, traditional, and historical knowledge with scientific knowledge to describe the condition of the Gulf of Maine.

Prior to the Summit a State of the Gulf report will be produced based on a blend of information from both local watershed forums and scientific literature. The report will document environmental, economic, and social trends and conditions for three primary areas – contaminants, fisheries, and patterns of development.

The Summit participants will work together to develop a clear vision of the future of the Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy region and design specific actions and strategies to get there. By developing aseries of indicators we will be able to track our progress for years to come.

 

Issues to be addressed include:

o Priorities for the Gulf of Maine Council’s 2006-2011 Action Plan.

o Mechanisms/tools to enable and assist communities to move forward on local-level recommendations      to protect and enhance the Gulf and its watershed.

o Improvements to reporting mechanisms and indicators to be used for future reports.

o Priorities for research in the Gulf of Maine.

o Priorities to integrate environmental monitoring and ocean observing via the Gulf of Maine Ocean

  Observing System.

o Improvements to state, provincial, and federal coastal & marine regulatory and planning programs.