[SEMCO] Gulf of Maine Expedition

[Sheri DeRosa]

The Gulf of Maine ExpeditionThe Gulf of Maine Expedition

For Immediate Release
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Sea Kayaking for Stewardship and Safety in the Gulf of Maine


March 20, 2002, Bar Harbor, Maine -- Traveling only as fast as their
arms
will let them, the Gulf of Maine Expedition’s team of paddlers will
document
the 1,000 mile long edge of the Gulf of Maine from Cape Cod,
Massachusetts,
all the way to Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia, starting on May 4, 2002,
to
raise awareness about the Gulf of Maine.

Team leader Natalie Springuel of Maine Sea Grant explains, "We want to
help
people understand what the Gulf of Maine is, its oceanography, its
shoreline, its watersheds, its habitats, its natural history, its people
and
places. This is an ecological and cultural awareness adventure.”

Nova Scotian team member Dan Earle adds, “We hope that in traveling
slowly,
by kayak, expedition members will gain and convey to others a sense of
the
Gulf that can not be gained by other means of travel ? a personal,
immediate, and intimate sense of time and place."

The team, made up of two American guides, two retired Canadian educators
and
up to 4 other paddlers, will take five months to complete the journey,
making landfall in a dozen communities along the way.

Maine Sea Grant has supplied the team with an ultra-lightweight laptop
computer to access the Internet in order to keep Gulf of Maine
communities
and organizations abreast of the Expedition’s progress.  The
Expedition’s
website, including a map, journal entries and Gulf of Maine information,

will be updated from the water several times a week and can be viewed at

www.gomexpedition.org.

Using digital and video cameras, journals, art, a field microscope, a
water
quality kit, a GPS unit, and other equipment, the expedition hopes to
capture a snapshot of the Gulf of Maine, from West to East, during the
summer of 2002.

An important part of the Expedition will be the informal contact with
children, families, communities, and tourists along the rim of the Gulf
coast, people who live, work, and play throughout this vast watershed.

Learn all about the Gulf of Maine and meet the Expedition at one of
their
landfalls!

This project is sponsored by Maine Sea Grant, Rippleffect, Canoe Kayak
Nova
Scotia, the Maine Coastal Program, Necky Kayaks, Kokatat, Otter
products,
and numerous other organizations and businesses.  For more information,
or
to be added to our email list, contact Natalie Springuel in Maine at
springuel@acadia.net or 207-288-4205.  In Canada, contact Dan Earle and
Sue
Hutchins at chebogue@klis.com, or 902-742-6382.

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Gulf of Maine Expedition Calendar of Events

May 4th ~ Provincetown, Massachusetts.  Gulf of Maine Expedition
departs.
Be part of the send off, paddle an hour with us, and wish us well.

May 18th ~ Boston, Massachusetts.  Join us in our first “Gulf of Maine
Day”
and help us celebrate National Safe Boating Week with the U.S. Coast
Guard,
U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and U.S. Power Squadron and the season’s
opening
of the Boston Harbor Islands National Park.

May 25th ~ Seacoast Science Center, Rye, New Hampshire.  Join us at our
second Gulf of Maine Day sponsored by the Seacoast Science Center.

June 7th-9th ~ L.L. Bean Kayak rendezvous, University of New England,
Biddeford, Maine.

June 22nd ~ Casco Bay.  Joint Rippleffect/Gulf of Maine Expedition kayak

rendezvous. Contact Rippleffect at 207-791-7870 if you want to join in a
day
of paddling in beautiful Casco Bay. This is a benefit event, proceeds
going
to Rippleffect and the Gulf of Maine Expedition.

June 23rd ~ Portland, Maine.  Join us at our third Gulf of Maine Day.

June 25-27th ~ Northern Penobscot Bay.  Warren Island campout/flotilla.
Join us for fun on the water and  a series of events about the Gulf of
Maine
on beautiful Warren Island or nearby Isleboro.

July 3rd ~ College of the Atlantic, Bar Harbor, Maine.  Join us at our
fourth Gulf of Maine Day including events on the College’s shorefront
campus
and an evening slide presentation, part of the Natural History Museum’s
lecture series.

July 20th ~ Eastport, Maine/St. Andrews, New Brunswick.  Our fifth
community
visit, possibly a joint U.S./Canadian event.  Details to be announced.

July 31st ~ Saint John, New Brunswick.  Home of the famous Reversing
Falls
and our sixth community visit, our first in Canada.

August 10th ~ Fundy National Park, Alna, New Brunswick.  Look for us at
a
campfire presentation.

August 17th ~ Cape Chignecto National Park, Kentville/Wolfville, Nova
Scotia.  Another campfire presentation.

August 31st ~ Digby, Nova Scotia.  Our seventh community visit.

September 7th ~ Meteghan, Nova Scotia.  Our eighth community visit.

September 14th ~ Yarmouth, Nova Scotia.  Our ninth community visit.

September 28th ~ Cape Sable Island, Nova Scotia.  Our tenth community
visit
and a big party celebrating the end of our Expedition.

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Natalie Springuel
Gulf of Maine Expedition/Maine Sea Grant
285 Knox Road
Bar Harbor, Maine 04609
springuel@acadia.net
www.gomexpedition.org