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The Gulf of Maine Facts

The Gulf of Maine Facts
The Gulf of Maine is located on North America's northeast coast, stretching from Cape Cod to New Brunswick to Nova Scotia. It is a gulf located in the Atlantic Ocean and includes coastline along Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick. The Gulf of Maine was named for the US State of Maine which was originally named the Province of Maine, likely by French explorers. The Gulf of Maine system also encompasses Passamaquoddy Bay, Penobscot Bay, Massachusetts Bay, and the Bay of Fundy. The surface area of the Gulf of Maine is approximately 36,000 square miles.
Interesting The Gulf of Maine Facts:
The Gulf of Maine's coastline extends from Cape Cod to Cape Sable which is roughly 7456 miles long.
Within the Gulf of Maine there are three large basins including Jordan, Wilkinson, and Georges.
The Georges basin is the largest basin in the Gulf of Maine.
The deepest that the Gulf of Maine waters reach is 1640 feet.
There are a variety of physical habitats in the Gulf of Maine including sandy beaches, mudflats, sand dunes, and intertidal regions.
Biological habitats in the Gulf of Maine include shellfish beds, seagrass beds, kelp beds, cold water coral, salt marshes, and codium beds.
The salt marshes in the Gulf of Maine are home to ribbed mussels, fiddler crabs, and striped bass.
The seagrass beds of the Gulf of Maine are home to winter flounder, Atlantic cod, Mytilus edulis, and bay scallops.
The kelp beds of the Gulf of Maine are home to Atlantic lobster and a variety of important organisms.
Because the Gulf of Maine has been a popular commercial fishing region for many years it has seen a decline in fish populations and the haddock and cod are no longer seen as being sustainable.
The first cod shortage in the Gulf of Maine was reported in 1659 by merchants in Massachusetts.
The last sea mink was trapped on an island in the Gulf of Maine in 1880.
Cod fishing was so popular in the Gulf of Maine that in 1851 there were 1260000 metric tons of it caught by fishermen.
Prior to the arrival of European explorers and settlers there had been Native Americans living in the region for 12000 years. Fishing and trapping and settlements resulted in many changes in the landscape and the water.
Due to overfishing of cod and haddock has resulted in an increase in lobster and sea urchin populations, which is destroying the kelp beds.
Major invertebrate fisheries located in the Gulf of Maine include those for Northern shrimp, ocean quahog, Atlantic surf clam, American sea scallop, and Atlantic lobster.
Major fish fisheries located in the Gulf of Maine include those for Atlantic Pollock, cod, haddock, menhaden, and herring.
The waters in the Gulf of Maine are regulated by Canada and the United States because of its boundaries.
The United States and Canada are still in dispute over Machias Seal Island's sovereignty as well as over the waters that surround it. Fishing and resource rights were determined in other regions of the Gulf of Maine in 1984 by the International Court of Justice.


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