Maine, Gulf of Maine, Coastal Waters, Conservation, Marine Environmental Research Institute 

The Gulf of Maine forum: Protecting Our Coastal and Offshore Waters was held November 1, 2002 in Blue Hill, Maine. It was sponsored by the Global Programme of Action Coalition for the Gulf of Maine (GPAC), the Marine Environmental Research Institute (MERI), the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the Maine Coastal Program (MCP). Fifty-one specialists representing government, academia, NGO’s, and business attended the program, The Gulf of Maine Forum paralleled the Bay of Fundy Coastal Forum: The Health of the Bay of Fundy, Assessing Key Issues, held in Wolfville, Nova Scotia May 13-16, 2002. These two for a provided an opportunity for scientists working in the Gulf of Maine and the Bay of Fundy, Canada, to participate in the GPAC forum process, which has resulted in a series of twenty community-based, local watershed for a held throughout the Gulf in 2002-2003 (GPAC, 2001). Consensus Decisions and Recommendations from the Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy for a along with results of the twenty local watershed for a will be presented at the Gulf of Maine Summit 2004: State of the Environment Reporting from the Bottom-Up to be held in October in St. Andrews, New Brunswick.  

This document is a summary report from the 2002 Gulf of Maine Forum entitled 'Protecting our Coastal and Offshore Waters'

Topics Include:
- Keynote address and Panels
- Water Quality
- Presence of Critical Habitats
- Changes in Species
- Changes in Resources Use
- Shoreline Use / Integrity