EcoSystem Indicator Partnership

The Gulf of Maine Council’s EcoSystem Indicator Partnership (ESIP) was established to help assess the health of the Gulf of Maine. ESIP convened regional practitioners around six indicator areas – coastal development, contaminants and pathogens, eutrophication, aquatic habitat, fisheries and aquaculture, and climate change – and shared regional data through a web-based reporting and mapping system for ecosystem monitoring. Although ESIP’s web-based reporting and monitoring tools are no longer active, regional data and resources developed through this initiative are available below for reference.

Fact Sheets

ESIP Introductory Fact Sheet (PDF 214 KB )
Aquaculture in the Gulf of Maine (PDF 222 KB)
The American Lobster Settlement Index (PDF 4.6 MB )

Journal Articles

ESIP published a journal featuring articles on topics of interest to Gulf of Maine practitioners.

July 2016 Development of Ecosystem Goods and Services Indicators for the Next Generation
April 2015 ESIP and EPA Team Up to Develop Watershed-Estuary Connections in the Northeast
January 2015 Take a Smart Tour of the Great Marsh
December 2014 American Lobster Settlement Index
November 2014 Is Change Good? An Integrated Sentinel Monitoring Network (ISMN) for the Northeast Coastal Ecosystems
August 2014 Student Built, Fishermen Deployed, Satellite Tracked Drifters
July 2014 Impervious Surface Mapping for Nova Scotia
March 2014 What the Hake?! Fish Forensics in Maine Markets
February 2014 Green Crab Summit
December 2013 Updating Coastal Elevation Data in New England
November 2013 When Right Whales Show Up Missing
September 2013 Army Corps of Engineers DAMOS Program Surveys Maine Dredged Material Disposal Sites
August 2013 The Annapolis Basin Integrated Water Quality Forecasting System
July 2013 The SPARTACUS GK-12 Project at the University of New England
June 2013 FSRS-GOMLF Collaborative Lobster Science Workshop Promotes International Collaboration in Lobster Research
May 2013 Volunteers Growing Hope for Oysters in New Hampshire
April 2013 The Nova Scotia Watershed Assessment Program
March 2013 Massachusetts Bays Program Estuarine Delineation and Assessment
January 2013 EPA Sampling Waters Along the Coasts of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts
December 2012 Collaborating to Advance Ocean Literacy in New England
November 2012 Establishing Biodiversity Baselines for the Musquash Estuary Marine Protected Area
October 2012 Signs of the Seasons: A Maine Phenology Program
September 2012 Water Canaries
July-August 2012 Evidence from 12-Year Study Links Ecosystem Changes in the Gulf of Maine with Climate Change
March-April 2012 Exploring the Erodibility of Sediments and the Effect on the Distribution of Harmful Algal Cysts in the Gulf of Maine
November-December 2011 Community Counts
August 2011 Ecosystem Health Indicators – How Did We Create a Gulf of Maine indicators and Reporting Initiative
April-May 2011 How is Casco Bay, Maine Doing?
May-June 2010 Effects of Nitrogen on Seagrass: Results from a Comparative Study
March-April 2010 State of Nova Scotia’s Coast Report
October-November 2009 Chemistry and Behavior: A Balancing Act
August-September 2009 Shellfish Farming
March-April 2009 Thierry Chopin and his team received the prestigious Synergy Award for Innovation from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
January-February 2009 Fish Sampling in the Saco River Estuary
November-December 2008 Garlic Mustard Management in Nova Scotia
September-October 2008 Impact of Contaminants on North Atlantic Right Whale
December 2007-January 2008 Role of Climate Change Research in Informing Habitat Decision-Making

Data

Steering Committee

ESIP’s Steering Committee included representatives from:

Environment and Climate Change Canada
Fisheries and Oceans Canada
NOAA
US Department of the Interior
US Environmental Protection Agency

ESIP was also supported by several subcommittees that engaged hundreds of regional practitioners across government and non-government organizations to develop indicators, report and analyze data, and develop educational resources informed by regional data.