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PROGRESS REPORT
GULF OF MAINE AREA PROGRAM
CENSUS OF MARINE LIFE
JUNE 2003
The work of the Gulf of Maine Census falls into 5 major categories:
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Extracting knowledge from existing data, with the principal product an electronic
Dynamic Atlas of the Gulf of Maine;
Reconstructing knowledge, providing support to HMAP within the Gulf of Maine;
Gaining knowledge through new field studies, which are aimed at both exploration
(biodiversity studies) and explanation (process studies);
Communicating knowledge, including building the Gulf of Maine Biogeographic
Information System (GMBIS) into a dynamic tool for exchanging distributed data
sets, and creating a comprehensive technology web page; and
Applying knowledge, including developing statistical techniques that will allow the
combining of different surveys and time series to generate indices of biodiversity and
metrics of community structure in the marine environment.
Since January 2003, progress has been made on each front.
1. Dynamic Atlas of the Gulf of Maine
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A full draft of the Phase I product, a set of approximately 25 prototype maps to
demonstrate the ways in which biological and physical data from different existing
data sets can be combined to illustrate abundance, diversity, and distribution of
organisms in the Gulf of Maine, is anticipated to be completed by the end of July.
The map below is a preliminary example that illustrates large-scale interactions
affecting distribution of a species. It compares the location of the Eastern Maine
Coastal Current (represented by colder waters) to the density of Alexandrium cells in
the same area, using data provided by David Townsend, University of Maine School
of Marine Sciences, from his work in ECOHAB and Andrew Thomas, University of
Maine School of Marine Sciences, Satellite Oceanography Data Laboratory. This
interaction between the species and the current, in which the current does not enter
Penobscot Bay, may help explain why there have been few PSP closures in Penobscot
Bay versus points both east and west of the bay (see the second map, the Maine Dept.
of Marine Resources closures).
Lessons learned from the prototypes will be applied as we move to Phase II of the
project, the combining of groundfish trawl survey and other data sets from the
Northeast Fisheries Science Center to match similar data already in GMBIS from the
Department of Fisheries and Oceans-Canada. Contracts are underway to obtain the
data sets from NEFSC for incorporation into GMBIS.
A Preliminary Example of Prototype Biophysical Maps
Do Not Cite; Awaiting Comments
Eastern Maine Coastal Current compared to the density of Alexandrium cells in the same area .
PSP Closures Along the Maine Coast, Maine DMR, 1/93-8/01
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Maps
compiled
and
designed
by
The
Island
Institute
and
Northern
Geomantics.
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A grant proposal to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation is pending to assist
with the development of the electronic Dynamic Atlas.
2. HMAP in the Gulf of Maine
The Gulf of Maine Census has entered into an agreement with the University of New
Hampshire HMAP center for analysis of approximately half of the 468 fishermen’s log
books for Frenchman’s Bay available from the Civil War era. The analysis will
contribute to providing a mid-19th century baseline for the cod population prior to
mechanized fishing and scientific stock assessment and to an understanding of the
geographic distribution of cod during that period.
3. New Field Studies
New field studies ultimately will comprise the largest effort of the Gulf of Maine Census.
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To direct this effort, the program has organized a Scientific Steering Committee and
identified Scientific Advisors. Four working groups, each chaired by a member of
the Scientific Steering Committee, have been formed: Benthos and Demersal Nekton
(Peter Auster, Univ. of Connecticut, chair); Large Predators (Scott Kraus, New
England Aquarium, chair); Plankton and Pelagic Nekton (Jeffrey Runge, Univ. of
New Hampshire, chair); and Microbial and Plant Communities (Mike Sieracki,
Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, chair). A fifth working group on Intertidal
and Shallow Subtidal Communities is being formed. The working groups have begun
to meet. Their tasks are to:
a)
b)
c)
d)
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Describe the known distribution and biodiversity of the group(s) within the
program area.
Describe the important ecological roles and estimate the major
biogeochemical impacts on the system (e.g., biomass, production, trophic
transfer, bottom up/top down influences on community structure).
Describe the major causes of change in a and b.
(a) Describe the extent to which a-c cannot be answered; (b) prioritize the
seriousness of these deficiencies with respect to understanding and conserving
regional biodiversity and enabling ecosystem-based management, and (c)
recommend appropriate research.
The Gulf of Maine Census’s secretariat has advised on and supported several
applications for funding of field study proposals already identified as priorities.
a)
In the winter 2002-2003 request for proposals from NOAA’s Office of Ocean
Exploration, 5 teams of investigators submitted letters of interest, 3 were
invited to submit full proposals, and we understand that 2 have received or are
negotiating some level of funding. The 2 successful projects both are in the
New England Seamount chain: the second year of a joint deepwater
systematics and marine mammal survey in the vicinity of Bear Seamount, and
a study of four of the seamounts to determine endemicity of biodiversity and
an assessment of the mechanisms that have produced the observed
biodiversity. The three unsuccessful proposals dealt with protistan diversity
in the Gulf of Maine, the development of optimal survey methods to
synoptically count large vertebrates, squid, euphausiids and mesozooplankton
and other oceanographic properties (temperature, salinity, chlorophyll)in the
Gulf of Maine, and the use of high spatial resolution sensing products to
classify intertidal benthic habitats. All remain high priorities for the Census.
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b)
The Chief Scientist continues to work with the PIs of the large vertebrates
project for possible submission to the National Science Foundation.
c)
The program is supporting an analysis of inexpensive image products derived
from a commercially available 4-meter resolution sensor (Ikonos) to
determine whether it can substitute for much more expensive multispectral
aircraft sensors, such as the Compact Airborne Spectrographic Imager
(CASI), to produce classifications in intertidal and coastal zones of benthic
sediment and vegetation types. If Ikonos can be shown to produce
comparable images, it will greatly facilitate the work to classify intertidal and
near shore benthic habitats and, we hope, lead to the funding needed for this
effort.
The Gulf of Maine program’s secretariat is trying to build relationships with sources
of funding for competitive new field studies that support the goals of the Census of
Marine Life. We have personally visited the program directors of key federal funding
agencies; have cooperated with the national secretariat in drafting federal legislation
recognizing the Census of Marine Life and authorizing funding of it; and have
worked to develop local sources of funding that might serve as match for federal
funds. For example, in cooperation with the local fishing industry, the Gulf of Maine
Aquarium, and the Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System, we persuaded the Maine
Legislature and Maine Department of Environmental Protection to increase research
dollars potentially available through the Maine Oil Spill Cleanup Fund to a quarter
million dollars annually.
The national recognition of Census of Marine Life as a cogent program that is
incorporated into the funding philosophies and priorities of federal science and
oceans agencies is the most important challenge for our pilot program. Without this
recognition, it will be very difficult to open doors to the competitive funding needed
by scientists in the region to carry out the field studies of the Census.
4. Building GMBIS into a Dynamic Tool for Data Exchange
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As an outgrowth of our agreement with the Northeast Fisheries Science Center to
import data from several of its data bases into GMBIS, in March 2003 we hosted a
strategy meeting among representatives of NEFSC, DFO Canada, GoMOOS,
Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management Program, Maine Dept. of Marine
Resources, the University of New Hampshire’s Center for Coastal Observation and
Analysis, the USGS, and the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment. The
purpose was to determine how to meld several ongoing efforts into a single system of
dynamic data exchange—and thereby advance an ocean observing system in the Gulf
of Maine that truly integrates physical, biological, and geological data from multiple
sources. This capability is central to the vision of GMBIS. The challenges to
achieving it are in part technical and in part institutional, and agreement was reached
to tackle both aspects.
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On the technical side, the Gulf of Maine Census is contributing to an international
partnership led by GoMOOS to build an aggregation server capable of dynamic,
ongoing, international, OGC-compliant exchange of geospatial habitat data (in
common GIS data formats) relating to fisheries management. An initial proposal has
been submitted to the Federal Geographic Data Committee (U.S.) and
GeoConnections (Canada) to establish and provide access to “framework” geographic
data relating to the seafloor in the Gulf of Maine.
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On the institutional side, the Gulf of Maine Census is helping to draft a memorandum
of understanding by which the cooperating parties will agree to share data on a
dynamic basis.
5. Statistical Indices
The Gulf of Maine Census’s chief scientist is teaming with a UNH PI in a proposal to the
Maine Sea Grant Program to develop statistically rigorous methods to integrate excisting
invertebrate and fish survey data from the Northeast Fisheries Science Center’s trawl data
base for the Gulf of Maine into meaningful indices of biodiversity. Maine Sea Grant
invited a full proposal, which has been submitted. Development of appropriate statistical
methods is the first step in being able to convert surveys undertaken over varying
temporal and spatial scales into a unified view of biodiversity as an indicator of the status
of the Gulf of Maine ecosystem.