ESIP overview | Vision statement and core principles | Primary Indicators | Data | Events and documents | Follow ESIP news on Twitter
The Ecosystem Indicator Partnership (ESIP) is a committee of the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment. ESIP is developing indicators for the Gulf of Maine and integrating regional data for a new Web-based reporting system for marine ecosystem monitoring. Activities of ESIP initially center on convening regional practitioners in six indicator areas: coastal development, contaminants and pathogens, eutrophication, aquatic habitat, fisheries and aquaculture, and climate change.
ESIP Journal Entry, July/August 2010
State of the Gulf of Maine Report Launched
On 9 June 2010, the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment released the State of the Gulf of Maine Report. The Council has recognised the need to tell people living and working in the region, as well as visitors to our shores, more about the current state of the environment, what causes the changes that we see, and what is being done about it.
The State of the Gulf of Maine Report aims to provide information on priority concerns for the region, which can be used for environmental management, decision-making and education. It is a part of the larger reporting effort within the Gulf, which includes the Ecosystem Indicator Partnership. The report is a modular, living, web-based document that will be updated continually over time. It will be developed incrementally, focusing on those issues that are of greatest concern to us now. At the moment, these issues include:
- climate change, and its effects on people and the ecosystems that sustain us;
- fisheries and aquaculture, as two of the most important economic activities in the region;
- coastal development, which places pressure on the environment;
- contaminants, and their effects on ecosystems and human health;
- nutrient enrichment (or eutrophication);
- aquatic habitats both in coastal areas and offshore, and
- maintaining the diversity of animals and plants in the Gulf of Maine ecosystem.
Currently available on the State of the Gulf of Maine website is the introductory document, The Gulf of the Maine in Context, and four of a possible fourteen theme papers. The rest will be developed incrementally during 2010 and 2011. Theme papers available on the website are:
- Climate Change and its Effect on Humans;
- Climate Change and its Effect on Ecosystems, Habitats and Biota;
- Invasive Species;
- Emerging Issues.
Media Contact:
Theresa Torrent-Ellis
Maine State Planning Office
38 State House Station
Augusta, ME 04333-0038 USA
Phone: 207.287.2351
Fax: 207.287.8059
E-mail:
Summary of Online Papers
Climate Change and its Effect on Humans
Accelerated climate change is anticipated to have wide-ranging effects on the future sustainability of the Earth due to adverse ecological, social and economic impacts. The driving force is an increase in the Earth’s temperature as a result of human activities (e.g., release of greenhouse gases and changes in landscape characteristics). The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) projects a global mean temperature increase of 1.1°C to 6.4°C by 2100, which is likely to affect storms and floods, and lead to a rise in sea level (due to the thermal expansion of the oceans and the melting of ice sheets and glaciers. Recent research efforts estimate a global sea level rise of between 50 cm and 190 cm from 1990 to 2100. There are several parts of the Gulf of Maine coast line that are classified as highly sensitive to the impacts of sea level rise because of risks associated with storm events. The physical extent of climate-related impacts will vary depending on regional and local situations. Coastal communities in the Gulf of Maine will be impacted in numerous ways, including: health and well-being of communities (e.g., injury, mortality, migration, crime and security); access to services; design and placement of structures (e.g., buildings, bridges, and utilities); cost of living; loss of livelihoods, and the cumulative magnitude of climate change impacts. Climate change mitigation and adaptation are becoming increasingly important to community management and there are numerous ongoing federal, provincial/state, county, and municipal plans addressing these issues within the Gulf of Maine.
Climate Change and its Effect on Ecosystems, Habitats and Biota
The earth’s climate is changing as a result of increasing anthropogenic emissions of greenhouse gases. Globally, the atmosphere and the oceans are warming. Atmospheric warming and melting of sea ice is altering the physical oceanography of the Gulf of Maine, while higher levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) may alter ocean chemistry, all of which will have effects on the ecosystem. Pressures on the aquatic environment as a result of atmospheric warming include increases in water temperature, decreases in salinity and changes in hydrography. Sea level rise is also an important pressure on coastal habitats and ecosystems. These pressures interact with each other and with additional pressures that are unrelated to climate change. These physical pressures may have negative impacts on some species within the Gulf of Maine, but may enhance the productivity of other species. Because the responses to these pressures will vary by species, the overall ecosystem will likely look profoundly different in the future as compared to the current ecosystem structure and species assemblage of the Gulf of Maine. Our ability to adapt to these changes will depend largely on measures taken to mitigate the ecosystem effects of climate change.
Emerging Issues - Circa 2010
This paper is a discussion of some of the emerging issues around the Gulf of Maine (referred to as the Gulf, and including the Bay of Fundy). The focus is on the environment and resources, covering the watersheds (lands and waters), estuaries, coastal and offshore waters, and how society is responding to their care. The paper is not definitive as some issues may be missing and some are likely not yet predicted, i.e., the unknown unknowns. It is meant to stimulate discussion about challenges confronting the Gulf of Maine and to stimulate further decisive action for follow-up research, information synthesis, policy making, management planning and education.
Read prior journals in the journal archive!
ESIP Fact Sheet Available
The ESIP Steering Committee is pleased to announce the release of the
first ESIP fact sheet. This initial fact sheet contains information on
the selected indicators and both of our webtools. Many individuals
assisted with the production of this document and we're thankful for all
of the effort and time dedicated by our ESIP team. If you would like to
receive hard-copies of the document, please contact Christine Tilburg at
.
- Summary Notes of ESIP meeting in Boston (DOC, 84 KB)
The Gulf of Maine regional indicators and reporting initiative is guided by the following objectives:
- Provide baseline data and information, using historical data where available, about ecosystem conditions against which future changes can be compared;
- Develop ecosystem indicators for assessing the state of the Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy that have a scientific grounding and that are relevant to management issues of concern in the region;
- Provide consistent, scientifically-sound, credible information that can be used to strengthen environmental policy and guide management decisions with environmental and social implications;
- Utilize a collaborative, interactive process that involves a variety of partners and data sources; and
- Ensure that information reaches decision-makers within the Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy region in a manner that is useful to them.
Although decision-makers receive information from multiple sources, the Gulf of Maine indicators and reporting program will uniquely convey linkages between science, management, and ecosystem goals at a regional scale and elucidate connections between ecosystem conditions and human needs. This initiative will begin with modest short-term goals and gradually extend the scope of its effort to expand 1) the depth and breadth of management-relevant issues that are covered, 2) the level of integration across specific management issues, 3) the spatial scale of focus, and 4) the audience that is reached through products of this program. It will rely heavily on partnerships with existing government agencies, environmental organizations, community groups, business and trade groups, academic institutions, and other programs operating within the region and at national and international scales.
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Questions about how to use the ESIP Indicator Reporting Tool? Download the ESIP Indicator Reporting User Guide (PDF, < 0.5 MB).
Interactive map of monitoring sites
The long-term goal of ESIP is to provide Web-based access to synthesized monitoring data collected in the Gulf of Maine and its watershed. Numerous government agencies and non-government organizations conduct monitoring programs in the region. The purpose of the ESIP Monitoring Map is to provide information regarding where monitoring programs exist in the Gulf of Maine. Although data can be accessed by following data links back to the parent organization, the purpose of this map is not to provide data. Instead, this map provides a means of assessing the type of monitoring data that is available in the Gulf of Maine. Data from these programs will be made available in the ESIP Indicator Map, under development now.
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Questions about how to use the ESIP Monitoring Map? Download the revised ESIP Monitoring Map User Guide 2 (PDF, 1.3 MB).
To add your program to the ESIP Monitoring Map, please contact ESIP Program Manager Christine Tilburg.
Data displayed on the ESIP Monitoring Map can be downloaded in database files or accessed via Web Mapping Services (WMS). Click here for more information.
Funding to develop the pilot version of the ESIP Monitoring Map was provided by the Cooperative Institute for Coastal and Estuarine Environmental Technology (CICEET).
Jawed Hameedi
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Susan Russell-Robinson
United States Geological Survey
Jason Naug
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
Charles Strobel
United States Environmental Protection Agency
Kathryn Parlee
Environment Canada
Coastal Development Subcommittee
Fisheries and Aquaculture Subcommittee
Christine Tilburg
ESIP Program Manager
Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment
ESIP overview | Vision statement and core principles | Primary Indicators | Data | Events and documents