F R O M   T H E   C R O W E ’ S   N E S T

A Career-Long Project



Most anyone, if asked, could immediately produce a list of current events that appear to be teetering on the brink of catastrophe. That sense of impending doom made the positive prospects presented by the State of the Science conference, held in Machias June 17-18, all the more encouraging.

The conference was the first step toward producing a comprehensive understanding of our current knowledge of Eastern Maine’s watersheds, intertidal, nearshore, and offshore ecosystems. It was hosted by the Eastern Maine Coastal Current Collaborative (EM3C). Sponsors were the Maine Community Coastal Fisheries, Maine DMR and NOAA.

No action from the collaborative is expected in the near-term. But the consensus at the conference was that, by looking at and better understanding the complex ecosystems that make up the eastern Maine coast, it will be possible to find a sustainable way forward for resources, fisheries and communities.

EM3C is funded by sponsorship and in-kind services. Its goal is to serve as a guiding body for a broad-based approach to ecosystems management – and find solutions that are appropriate and do-able. The idea is that solutions stem from a combination of factors. There’s the ecological side – allowing ecosystems to flourish naturally. Then there’s the human side, providing adaptive management and engaging community members.

The root of this approach, which EM3C says is the only one like it in the U.S., lies in part in the research around Gulf of Maine cod spawning stocks, conducted by Stonington fisherman Ted Ames and Northeast Fisheries Science Center scientist Mike Fogarty. Fogarty identified what he called ecosystem production units unique to the area between Penobscot Bay and the Bay of Fundy.

In 2016, NOAA developed a Habitat Blueprint for the Penobscot River Watershed.

All of these efforts and more, and the conversations revolving around them since 2012 at the Maine Center for Coastal Fisheries, has evolved into a NOAA policy document and EM3C.

Jon Hare from the Northeast Science Center shared a note of optimism at the conference. In a nod to the Passamaquoddy word for “ecosystem,” he said, “It’s not a five-year project. It’s a career-long project. This is a commitment, a long run to change how we think about managing in these systems.”