Earlier this month, two entities in Portland, each bearing the words "Gulf of Maine" in their respective monikers, decided to merge. The Gulf of Maine Research Institute melded the Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System into its midst, bringing five of the system’s employees into its fold.
The absorption of the one by the other makes a lot of fiscal and scientific sense, in my opinion. The Gulf of Maine Research Institute (GMRI) is the golden child of marine science in Maine right now, outshining its brethren, the Bigelow Ocean Science Laboratory in Boothbay Harbor and the Darling Marine Center in Walpole in funding and positive press. According to its own press release announcing the merger, "GMRI advances sustainable uses of marine resources and nurtures science literacy through a fusion of science, education and community programs. GMRI’s lab on the waterfront in Portland houses an international team of scientists working to fill key information gaps about commercial fish species, critical and sensitive habitats, fishing practices and gear technology, and economic decision making."
GMRI emerged from the decades-old idea of housing a world-renowned northern waters aquarium on the Portland waterfront. The physical aquarium idea morphed into a virtual aquarium with the advent of the World Wide Web, featuring fact-filled pages on lobsters, herring, turtles and undersea landscapes. Funding procured by Senator Olympia Snowe, a vigorous private capital campaign and donation of the former Naval Reserve Pier next to the Portland Fish Exchange by the federal government allowed the institute to evolve from virtual to real with the opening of its new bricks-and-mortar facility in 2005. Since then the institute has become a neutral scientific player in the fisheries, lobster and policy worlds here and in Washington, D.C.