| Recent advances in physical oceanography, sampling and observation tools, and data management methods are sufficient to enable a wide range of organisms in the Gulf of Maine to be quantified and related both to other organisms and to the physical habitat. A pilot Census of marine life in the Gulf of Maine would advance the goals of ecosystem understanding and management in a timely manner. A prerequisite is knowledge of the distribution and abundance of the organisms that inhabit, both permanently and transiently, the Gulf of Maine and adjacent waters, namely those of Georges Bank, Browns Bank, and Slope Sea, including the New England seamounts. Both systematic and synoptic investigations of a spectrum of marine life are needed to supplement current data... |
