Bertrum MacDonald and Peter Wells gave a presentation about the Environmental Information: Use and Influence research initiative to the Working Group of the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, which met in Halifax on 5 March 2013. The presentation outlined the recent history of the EIUI initiative and, in particular, research undertaken collaboratively with the Council. For example, results of the study of the initial awareness, use, and influence of The State of the Gulf Report were published recently in a paper in Marine Policy.
Research undertaken by the EIUI initiative aligns well with the Council’s goals set out in its Action Plan for 2012-2017. Outcomes for Goal 1 regarding Restored and Conserved Habitats, for example, aim to ensure that “coastal decision-makers receive up-to-date, accurate, relevant information” needed to improve and protect water quality (Outcome 1.1) and to conserve coastal and marine habitats (Outcome 1.3). Similarly, for Goal 2 concerned with environmental and human health, all three outcomes aim to ensure that scientists, coastal decision-makers, and managers “receive understandable, useful, reliable information about environmental conditions and trends in the region” (Outcome 2.2). The EIUI research team looks forward to further projects with the Council.
The Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment is an international, intergovernmental organization established
in 1989 by the premiers of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia and the Governors of Massachusetts, Maine, and New Hampshire — the five provinces and states bordering the Gulf of Maine / Bay of Fundy. For almost twenty-five years the Council has worked to “maintain and enhance environmental quality in the Gulf of Maine and to allow for sustainable resource use by existing and future generations.” With support from the governments of all five jurisdictions as well as the Canadian and America federal governments, the Council has undertaken many projects and produced hundreds of publications to fulfill its mandate.
