Welcome
The Gulf of Maine Area program is the regional ecosystem project of the global Census of Marine Life, which seeks to explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the ocean. Research from this program will contribute to the development of ecosystem approaches to management (EAM) in the Gulf of Maine and around the world. This program is run jointly by American and Canadian scientists at the University of Southern Maine and the Centre for Marine Biodiversity.
Our Study Area
Research in the Gulf of Maine - Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae)
Research in the Gulf of Maine - Researchers sort through the sea life inside a quadrat
Research in the Gulf of Maine - NEAq's Research Vessel, Galatea, at Platts Bank
Learn about the Gulf of Maine - Coast of Maine (Photo by Tom Trott)
Learn about the Gulf of Maine - Solaster endica - Sunstar.
Learn about the Gulf of Maine - Cerianthus borealis - Northern cerianthid.
Education & Outreach for the Gulf of Maine - Researchers on Cobscook Bay
Education & Outreach for the Gulf of Maine - Saco Middle School teacher, Pattie DeMaria
Education & Outreach for the Gulf of Maine - Solaster endeca - Purple sun star
Data & Mapping the Gulf of Maine - Researchers at Platts Bank
Data & Mapping the Gulf of Maine - Bathymetric map
Data & Mapping the Gulf of Maine - Researcher Nick Wolff
News & Features
- Essay Contest: Discovering our Modern Day "Darwins"
- As part of the 2009 Darwin Celebration, a student essay contest is underway called Discovering our Modern Day “Darwins” in the Census of Marine Life. The deadline is December 11, 2009. Details (PDF - 114 KB)
- Join us in Celebrating the Ocean's Diversity on November 19th:
- Award-winning writer Darlene Crist and deep-sea diver Richard Morris will share the excitement of the global Census of Marine Life through stories, images and film. Event details (PDF - 188 KB)
- Census researchers are discovering details about the jelly-like animals that live in deep Arctic waters. BBC Earth News - Sept 2009
- Gulf of Maine researchers find prehistoric tools and artifacts discovered at Isles of Shoals. Cornell Chronicle Online - 27 Aug 2009
- Census of Marine Life maps an ocean of species
Los Angeles Times - 2 Aug 2009"The first comprehensive effort to identify and catalog every species in the world's oceans, from microbes to blue whales, is a year from completion..."
- MarBEF's 100 page synopsis of five year research on Marine Biodiversity and Ecosystem Functioning is published. MarBEF is an EU network and a contributing partner for the Census of Marine Life.
- Gulf of Maine researcher, Dr. Nate Hamilton, finds evidence of prehistoric Native Americans on Smuttynose Island. SeacoastNH.com - July 2009
- GoMA Census researcher, Nick Makris, on NPR All Things Considered: "Herring School for Safer Sex" - 26 Mar 2009
Essays on Charles Darwin in our new blog "Celebrating Darwin" and a selection of resources and upcoming lectures in our region.
Watch the winning videos from the 2009 National Ocean Sciences Bowl “Living on the Ocean Planet” Video Contest, sponsored by the National Ocean Sciences Bowl (NOSB) and the Census of Marine Life.