Understanding Potential Effects of Ocean Acidification

Marine Extension Team members are positioned to assist Maine’s fisheries and aquaculture stakeholders as they begin exploring issues related to ocean acidification and other climate-related changes in Maine’s coastal waters, including participation in the Northeast Coastal Acidification Network.

The Northeast Coastal Acidification Network (NECAN) is a network of scientists, federal and state agency representatives, resource managers, and affected industry partners dedicated to coordinating and guiding regional observing, research, and modeling endeavors to better identify and communicate critical vulnerabilities, particularly with respect to regionally important and economically significant marine resources. Our strategy looks like this:

Since November 2013, NECAN has sponsored a series of 16 webinars on topics related to regional coastal and ocean acidification. Following the webinars, we conducted a two-day Ocean Acidification State of the Science workshop to summarize the relevant ocean acidification-related science in the region, and develop information that will be the basis for stakeholder engagement and implementation. Two stakeholder workshops are being planned for Fall 2014 to be held in Maine and Massachussetts.