Advancing an Ecosystem Approach in the Gulf of Maine

2012 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Maine ◽  
Data Gathering ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
Bay Of Fundy ◽  
Fishing Industry ◽  
Full Potential ◽  
Georges Bank ◽  
The West ◽  
Management Guidance ◽  
Natural Foods

<i>Abstract</i>.—The Gulf of Maine (GoM) may have defined borders to some, but to the Canadian fishing industry, it carries a flow of larvae, nutrients, and other resources that help sustain the fishery from Georges Bank to the West Scotian Slope to the Bay of Fundy and all points in between. The GoM provides a source of wealth to people and communities, as well as supplying what may be one of the last natural foods on the planet. The fishing industry has been using the GoM for centuries, yet it is only recently that monitoring and data gathering has been taking place. In my opinion, we can extract much more value from the fisheries than we presently do. If the fisheries resource of the GoM is not delivering its full potential, who is ultimately responsible and accountable? In the past decade, transboundary groundfish resources from Georges Bank have been successfully managed through the Transboundary Management Guidance Committee. We can improve decision making even further in a greater ecosystem context, recognizing that decisions have to be made with the information available. An ecosystem approach to fisheries proposes a pragmatic view based on assessing the risk of not meeting agreed objectives.

Advancing an Ecosystem Approach in the Gulf of Maine

2012 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Historical Perspective ◽  
Nutrient Loading ◽  
Gulf Of Maine ◽  
Environmental Literacy ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
The United States ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Bay Of Fundy ◽  
Spatial Management ◽  
The Subject

<i>Abstract</i> .—The goal of this session was to provide a synthesis of the major pressures being exerted on the Gulf of Maine (GOM), including the Bay of Fundy, that constrain the achievement of ecosystem objectives or the desired state of valued attributes (ecological, social/cultural, and economic). The GOM boasts a diverse ecosystem, much changed ecologically over the past 400 years and long the subject of intense scrutiny by a host of universities, marine labs, and research centers in both the United States and Canada. While the presentations in the session noted that this ecosystem must cope with stressors that range from climate change to pharmaceuticals and nutrient loading to overfishing, the presentations also presented an historical perspective with lessons for resiliency, including successes of finer-scale and spatial management as well as collaborations in research and communication. It was recognized that a concerted effort to raise environmental literacy amongst the gulf ’s residents is essential to ensure that the full value of its ecosystems and resources is recognized and protected for future generations.

Further Study of Larval Herring (Clupea harengus L.) in the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine

1960 ◽  
Vol 17 (6) ◽  
pp. 933-942 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. N. Tibbo ◽  
J. E. Henri Legaré
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
Gulf Of Maine ◽  
Clupea Harengus ◽  
Bay Of Fundy ◽  
Surface Currents ◽  
Georges Bank ◽  
Spawning Grounds ◽  
Southwest Coast ◽  
Spawning Areas ◽  
Northern Edge

Plankton surveys in the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine in 1958 and 1959 indicated that the largest herring spawning areas in this region are on the northern edge of Georges Bank and off the southwest coast of Nova Scotia. The drift of larvae from the spawning grounds as indicated by increasing size and by the direction of non-tidal surface currents suggest that Bay of Fundy herring stocks are supplied chiefly from the Nova Scotia spawnings.

Advancing an Ecosystem Approach in the Gulf of Maine

2012 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Maine ◽  
River Estuary ◽  
Potato Production ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
Point Sources ◽  
Analytical Models ◽  
Bay Of Fundy ◽  
Nitrogen And Phosphorus ◽  
Saint John ◽  
River Valleys

Abstract.—Estuarine and coastal ecosystems of the Gulf of Maine continue to be degraded by excessive loadings of sediments, nutrients, and contaminants derived from surrounding watersheds. The Saint John River basin is the largest basin in the Gulf of Maine, and within it there are a significant number of major industries along the main stem of the river and vast expanses of land-based activities of forestry and potato production along many of the river valleys and floodplains. Water quality and loading of sediments and nutrients have changed over the past few hundred years, with the most important changes coming with the expansion of agriculture and pulp and paper processing operations since the 1950s. Several studies are discussed in this chapter that outline the identification and quantification of watershed-based activities that influence the Saint John River ecosystem. Using export coefficient modeling, nonpoint sources of nitrogen and phosphorus to the Bay of Fundy are shown to be three to four times that of point sources. Few studies explicitly couple river dynamics to estimates of load to the Saint John River estuary and the Bay of Fundy. With high-quality geographic information on land coverage, land usage and human activities, and robust water quantity and quality monitoring programs, analytical models can be developed to help evaluate policy options and chart pathways towards a more integrated understanding and management of the basin and its receiving waters.

On the Occurrence and Distribution of Larval Herring (Clupea harengus L.) in the Bay of Fundy and the Gulf of Maine

1958 ◽  
Vol 15 (6) ◽  
pp. 1451-1469 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. N. Tibbo ◽  
J. E. Henri Legaré ◽  
Leslie W. Scattergood ◽  
R. F. Temple
Keyword(s):  
Nova Scotia ◽  
New Brunswick ◽  
Gulf Of Maine ◽  
Clupea Harengus ◽  
Bay Of Fundy ◽  
Surface Currents ◽  
Georges Bank ◽  
Spawning Areas ◽  
Northern Edge ◽  
Newly Hatched Larvae

A major portion of the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine has been surveyed for occurrence and distribution of herring larvae. Plankton samples obtained with Hardy continuous plankton recorders and plankton nets confirm major spawning areas off the southwest coast of Nova Scotia and on the northern edge of Georges Bank. Newly hatched larvae were found in abundance in these areas, but nowhere else. Drift of larvae as indicated by non-tidal surface currents suggests that Nova Scotia spawnings may contribute substantially to commercial stocks of herring in inshore areas of Maine and New Brunswick. It is possible that Georges Bank spawnings also supply herring to this region.

Paralytic Shellfish Poison in Sea Scallops (Placopecten magellanicus) in the West Atlantic

1983 ◽  
Vol 40 (3) ◽  
pp. 313-318 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. S. Jamieson ◽  
R. A. Chandler
Keyword(s):  
Adductor Muscle ◽  
Bay Of Fundy ◽  
Georges Bank ◽  
Placopecten Magellanicus ◽  
Eastern Canada ◽  
The West ◽  
Monthly Basis ◽  
Sea Scallop ◽  
Paralytic Shellfish ◽  
Sea Scallops

Levels of Gonyaulax excavata toxin in sea scallop (Placopecten magellanicus) tissues were monitored in eastern Canada on a monthly basis between 1977 and 1981. All tissues but the adductor muscle were found to be highly toxic in Bay of Fundy scallops, with negligible toxicity observed in scallops from Georges Bank, the outer Scotian Shelf, and Northumberland Strait scallops. Level of Bay of Fundy toxicity was much higher than previously observed (maximum digestive gland toxicity: 150 000 μg/100 g in March 1978), and recent average monthly toxicity for Bay of Fundy scallop roe ranged from 184 to 286 μg/100 g. Considerable fluctuation in toxicity can occur between adjacent months, and peak toxicities in sea scallops occur during fail and winter months. Scallop roe fisheries should be permitted to be established for scallops fished from the northern part of Georges Bank and Northumberland Strait. However, a closed zone for scallop roe should be established in the Bay of Fundy and adjacent Scotian Shelf.Key words: scallop, PSP, Gonyaulax, Placopecten, mollusk

Sources of Water Contributed to the Bay of Fundy by Surface Circulation

1960 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 181-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dean F. Bumpus
Keyword(s):  
Surface Water ◽  
Annual Cycle ◽  
Gulf Of Maine ◽  
Surface Flow ◽  
Bay Of Fundy ◽  
Georges Bank ◽  
Scotian Shelf ◽  
Eastern Side ◽  
Surface Circulation ◽  
Surface Drift

The returns from the 35,000 drift bottles launched in the Gulf of Maine area since 1919 have been analyzed to determine the annual cycle of surface drift. The source of surface flow into the Bay of Fundy expands from a minimum during January in the offing of the eastern side of the bay to a maximum in May which includes most of Georges Bank, the Gulf of Maine and the southwestern Scotian Shelf, then commencing in September gradually contracts toward the minimum.Secular variations in the removal of surface water from the Bay of Fundy, indicative of changes in the Maine eddy, were noted during 1957 and 1958.

Advancing an Ecosystem Approach in the Gulf of Maine

2012 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Gulf Of Maine ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
Georges Bank ◽  
Current Signal ◽  
Eastern Side ◽  
Deep Layers ◽  
Western Side ◽  
Year 2000 ◽  
Ocean Observing ◽  
The U.S

<i>Abstract</i>.—Conventional wisdom, based on observations spanning two and a half decades (1975–2000), asserts that inflow to the Gulf of Maine (GoM) occurs primarily in two areas: inshore on the Scotian Shelf off Cape Sable, Nova Scotia and on the eastern side of the Northeast Channel (NEC). In particular, the monthly mean currents in the eastern NEC have shown persistent inflow at all depths and in all seasons, except for the occasional, but brief, reversals near the bottom (~200 m). Conversely, the flow on the western side of the NEC is normally directed out of the gulf in the surface layer and at mid-depth, consistent with the clockwise gyre over Georges Bank, but those currents do show relatively frequent reversals to inflow in the deeper layers (150–200 m), in sympathy with the flow on the eastern side. At some point between the year 2000, when the last Bedford Institute of Oceanography (BIO)/U.S. GLOBEC mooring was removed from the eastern NEC, and 2004, when a new mooring was placed there as part of the U.S. ocean observing array, a transformation occurred. The recent data, collected from a representative location in the eastern NEC, show a strongly seasonal current signal marked by persistent periods of outflow in the deep layers (>100 m), particularly in winter. This observation was first reported by Pettigrew et al. (2008), where the outflow currents occasionally extend to the surface layers as well, most notably in the winters of 2004–2005 and 2006–2007. Additional data and analyses reported here suggest that this new mode of behavior in the NEC currents could have important consequences for the GoM ecosystem. Possible causes for this “regime shift” in the NEC circulation and implications for the GoM deepwater nutrient fields and ecosystem are discussed.

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