Climate Change Impact on Gulf of Maine

Gulf of MaineMay Become the Model for Climate Change's Effects and How to Adapt, According to Scientists at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Long-established species of commercial fish, such as cod, herring and northern shrimp, are departing for colder waters. Black sea bass, blue crabs and newly arrived species of squid - all highly unusual for the gulf - are turning up in fishermen's nets.

The Gulf of Maine's warming reflects broader trends around the North Atlantic. But the 99 percent statistic - accepted by scientists at NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - underscores particular fears about the gulf's unique ecosystem and the lucrative fishing industries it supports for three U.S. states, including Maine, and two Canadian provinces.

It is a rallying point for environmental activists, who see the response to the temperature rise and its impact on fisheries as a touchstone for the global debate about climate change.

The rising waters in the gulf - a big dent in the East Coast stretching from Massachusetts to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick - have interfered with the work of Diane Cowan, founder of the Lobster Conservancy, who has conducted lobster censuses in New England for 22 years.

The shore of a cove off Maine's Friendship Long Island, in Knox County, has long been the best site on the East Coast to find baby lobsters, she said. Around 2007, she couldn't lift a rock without finding one, and usually several.

But the rising sea has prevented her from getting there much since 2010, she said, because the shore is almost always underwater. On a recent August morning, she made it to the site and found 19 young lobsters - a big drop from the huge colonies seen seven years ago, Cowan said.

Source: PressHerald

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