Vol. 1, No. 1
Headline
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New plan: Collaborative action needed in key areas FREDERICTON, New Brunswick - Proposals for region-wide collaborative efforts by public- and private-sector partners highlight a new five-year action plan adopted by the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment at its semi-annual meeting in December. The plan provides direction for addressing five key priorities relating to the 69,115-square-mile [165,185-square-kilometer] international Gulf of Maine watershed. According to Council Chairman Bernard Theriault, who is also minister of New Brunswick's Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture, the plan "builds on our accomplishments over the past several years." Established in 1989 by the governments of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, the Council convenes efforts to maintain and enhance environmental quality in the Gulf watershed. The new action plan describes the Council's five priorities as restoring shellfish habitat; promoting restoration of groundfish resources; addressing ecosystem and public health effects of toxic contaminants in the marine food chain; protecting and restoring regionally significant coastal habitats; and reducing marine debris. "One new approach the council is taking to support these five focus areas is through a funding program for non-government organizations working to improve the marine environment in their respective regions," Theriault said. Since the Council's 1991 action plan, many effective partnerships have been established on both sides of the international border, he noted. Council seeks role in UN efforts to combat marine pollution Washington, DC -- The Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment anticipates joining the UN's Commission for Environmental Cooperation [CEC] in efforts to combat marine pollution. That action would be pursued under the guidance of the United Nations' Global Program of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities [GPA]. More than 100 nations (including Canada, the US, and Mexico) adopted the GPA at a 1995 Washington, DC conference sponsored by the United Nations Environment Program [UNEP] in response to a recommendation made at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The GPA is a guide for national and regional authorities for controlling marine pollution caused by activities taking place on land. The CEC is facilitating cooperative efforts among organizations in marine and coastal areas of the US, Canada, and Mexico to implement the GPA, and has chosen the Gulf of Maine and the Southern California Bight as pilot projects, said Dr. Joseph H. Arbour, Senior Advisor for Priority Issues in Environment Canada's [EC] Environmental Protection Branch. The Gulf of Maine Council hopes a partnership with the CEC will bolster its efforts in support of the GPA, Arbour said. He and Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Office Director Peg Brady, who is also a Council member, co-chair the ad-hoc Land-Based Source [LBS] Committee set up by the Council to expedite a partnership with the CEC. That process is under way, Arbour said. According to UNEP, human activities on land cause approximately 80% of all marine pollution. By the year 2000, 4.5 billion people, or 75% of the world's population, will live within 40 miles [60 kilometers] of the coast, intensifying these problems, the group states. An effort known as the Gulf of Maine Project, administered by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [NOAA] with the Council's support, is already implementing parts of the GPA by identifying point and nonpoint land-based sources of marine pollution in the Gulf, Arbour explained. Council awards nearly $100,000 to NGOs FREDERICTON, New Brunswick -- The Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment last December awarded nearly $100,000 to 14 non-governmental organizations in Canada and the US for 1997 projects. The US Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] provided the funds for those efforts, which are intended to further the Council's mission to maintain and enhance environmental quality in the Gulf and to meet new action plan objectives by 2001. These projects include opening shellfish beds now closed to harvesting; restoring regionally significant coastal habitats; reducing toxic contaminant levels in the sediments of three coastal bays; and reducing the amount of marine debris along the Gulf's shores. Council Chairman Bernard Theriault, also minister of New Brunswick's Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture noted, "Building community involvement and support at the local level for protecting the Gulf and its watershed is an integral component of each project we are supporting through our NGO grant program." The following groups received grants:
Visionary Awards recognize efforts on Gulf's behalf FREDERICTON, New Brunswick -- The Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment honored ten recipients in December with 1996 Visionary Awards for their "outstanding commitment" to protecting the coastal environment in the Gulf of Maine region. Since 1991, the Council has recognized one individual and one organization annually from each of the five provinces and states bordering the Gulf of Maine. The Council announced the following winners at its semi-annual meeting in Fredericton last December:
Great Marsh summit spurs action to protect resource WENHAM, Massachusetts -- Work is under way to restore and protect the Great Marsh following last year's summit funded by the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment and Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management [MCZM]. Attendees adopted a work plan to address degradation of the Great Marsh, which covers 20,000 acres [8,000 hectares] along the northern Massachusetts coast from west Gloucester to the New Hampshire border. Massachusetts Audubon Society's [MAS] North Shore Conservation Advocacy Office, which hosted the summit and is coordinating the efforts of project teams, said these actions represent the first regional collaboration to protect the largest contiguous acreage of salt marsh north of Long Island, New York. According to MAS, summit attendees included federal, state, regional, and local officials; scientists; planners; teachers; students; and representatives of non-governmental organizations. MAS noted that pollution problems and intensive land development are affecting the health of the marsh, parts of which are routinely closed to shellfishing. The group also stated that anadromous fish runs in the Parker, Merrimack, and Essex Rivers are severely reduced. Open space, wildlife habitat, and biological diversity are also disappearing at what MAS called "an alarming rate." The work plan outlines steps for restoring and protecting the marsh, citing six goals: reopening closed shellfish beds; reducing stormwater pollution to shellfish beds; restoring and enhancing anadromous fish habitat; restoring degraded sections of the marsh; preserving critical resource areas around the marsh; and promoting conservation design practices. Sea grant fellow evaluates Gulf's coastal habitat programs BOSTON, Massachusetts -- The effectiveness of coastal habitat restoration programs in the Gulf of Maine is under study by a Coastal Zone Fellow based in the Massachusetts' Coastal Zone Management Office [MCZM] since October 1. Christopher Cornelisen is one of six fellows working under a new program funded by NOAA's Sea Grant and Coastal Services Center Programs and the host states, according to Susan Snow-Cotter, MCZM Ocean Policy Coordinator. The program matches qualifying, recently graduated Masters, professional degree, and Doctoral students with state coastal zone management positions around the US, said Snow-Cotter. The fellow receives professional, on-the-job education and training opportunities in coastal resource and policy, while the host agency receives specific technical assistance. Cornelisen's project encompasses Maine, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. A graduate of Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa with a degree in Biology, Cornelisen also holds a Master of Science Degree in Coastal Zone Management from Florida Institute of Technology. He worked as a marine educator for three years between his undergraduate and graduate study. "We're thrilled to have someone of Chris' caliber working with us on such an important issue. Its quite a luxury to have this scale of research done at a state agency," Snow-Cotter said. |
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Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine