Gulf of Maine Area Program of the Census of Marine Life
This is a brief history of the milestones in the GoMA program. For a complete picture of contributing research projects that have expanded our knowledge of the Gulf of Maine, visit our Research section.
2000
- Census of Marine Life begins - a 10-year scientific initiative to assess and explain the diversity, distribution, and abundance of life in the oceans.
2001
- Initial steps of Gulf of Maine ecosystem pilot begins (Ken Foote, PI, WHOI)
2002
- Gulf of Maine Area selected as ecosystem pilot for the Census
- Research Technologies page developed
- Phase I proposal: “Biodiversity in Support of Integrated Oceans Management” funded by Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
2003
- Phase I: Implementation of GoMA begins at University of Southern Maine with Evan Richert, Program Director and Lew Incze, Chief Scientist
- Formation policy committee, science advisory committee and working groups
- Publication: Prototype Biophysical Maps of the Gulf of Maine
- All-program meeting of COML in Washington DC, USA
2004
- Gulf of Maine Ocean Data Partnership forms
- Science Meeting of GoMA researchers at Woods Hole
- Canadian researchers develop a new biodiversity research project, Discovery Corridor Bay of Fundy and northeast Gulf (Peter Lawton, Chair of Steering Committee)
- All-program meeting of COML in Paris, France
2005
- Gulf of Maine Biogeographic Information System on-line
- Research Cruise: Biodiversity of Platts Bank (Lew Incze, PI et al) begins
- First Research Cruise in the Discovery Corridor (Ellen Kenchington and Erica Head, DFO, PI’s)
- Research: Gulf of Maine Study of Intertidal Communities (Tom Trott, PI, Suffolk U.)
- All-program meeting of COML in Frankfurt, Germany
2006
- Gulf of Maine Register of Marine Species released (Lou Van Guelpen and Gerhard Pohle, Huntsman Marine Science Centre)
- Discovery Corridor: Deep-water ROV ROPOS surveys to depths of 2600m off Northeast Channel (Peter Lawton/Ellen Kenchington, DFO; Anna Metaxas, Dalhousie U.; Paul Snelgrove, Memorial U.)
- Platts Bank research and analysis continues
- Cashes Ledge (Jon Witman, PI, Brown University) research begins
- Phase I ends, Phase II Implementation of GoMA begins
2007
- Research project: History of the Nearshore Project, Cobscook Bay, joint project of GoMA, NaGISA and HMAP begins (Tom Trott, PI et al)
- Research project: Green Crab Invasive Study begins (Jeb Beyers, PI, UNH)
- Gulf of Maine program co-sponsors National Marine Educators Association conference
- Dr. Peter Lawton of the Centre for Marine Biodiversity (Canada) joins Dr. Lewis Incze of University of Southern Maine (USA) to lead scientific program for Gulf of Maine
- Dr. Sara Ellis joins GoMA as Program Manager
- All-program Census meeting held in Auckland, New Zealand
- Phase II ends: Gulf of Maine program synthesis planning begins
2008
- Phase III Gulf of Maine Area program synthesis begins
- New interface for the Data and Mapping Portal, (or Gulf of Maine Biogeographic Information System) is launched
- Stellwagen Bank ecosystem modeling and visualization begins (Peter Auster, UConn and L. Incze, USM)
- Co-founder of GoMA, Evan Richert, wins Visionary Award from the Gulf of Maine Council (news release PDF 128KB)