The Gulf of Maine Times

Volume 3, Number 4

GOM Council celebrates decade of working in Gulf Stewardship

By Suzy Fried, Editor

Gulf of Maine - Rimmed by the Canadian and US coastlines, the Gulf of Maine offers countless glittering views of a particularly productive piece of the Atlantic Ocean. But in many areas - even the apparently pristine ones - development, commerce, and other human use of land and sea have affected, and often reduced, the Gulf's environmental, economic, recreational, and aesthetic values.

Recognizing the immeasurable worth to both Canada and the US of this vast body of water that extends from Cape Cod to the Bay of Fundy, with a watershed land area covering 69,115 square miles/165,185 square kilometers, the Gulf states and provinces decided in 1989 to work together to manage their use and protection of Gulf of Maine resources. The collaboration is also intended to take into account the diversity of interests and activities in the Gulf region, and the vulnerability of this shared system of ecosystems to the effects of activities originating on either side of the international border.

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