PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 8, 2024
World Oceans Day is today, June 8, and ocean health is something Maine can celebrate every day. The Gulf of Maine is a special place. Named for our state, it stretches from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia with 70,000 square miles of life as deep as the Empire State Building and as cold as the refrigerator in your kitchen. We appreciate the ocean for the fishing industry that brings us dinner and jobs, for the cool summer breezes that bring visitors from hot summer cities. We appreciate the ocean for its variety of glorious animals – from humpback whales to harbor porpoises, from periwinkles to codfish, from osprey to eiders. Our appreciation, though, needs to extend to care because the Gulf of Maine is struggling with the same threats that poison the world’s oceans. ~ Jeffrey McCarthy, professor of environmental humanities, Belfast