Background:  The last major symposium for science in the Gulf of Maine was the RARGOM scientific symposium and workshop held in St Andrews, New Brunswick in 1996. Since that date, there have been tremendous advances in our understanding of the Gulf of Maine, and federal, provincial, and state jurisdictions in Canada and the US have moved forward with ecosystem approaches to management. Therefore, it is timely to review and update the last decade of policy approaches and science, and make recommendations on the knowledge required to move forward with an integrated management approach/ecosystem approach to management (IM/EAM) in the Gulf of Maine.

Geographical Focus:  The geographical focus of this symposium is the Gulf of Maine watershed (delineated by the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and Cape Sable at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northeast). Both Massachusetts Bay and the Bay of Fundy are included within the Gulf of Maine system. It is recognised that there is considerable interchange with ecosystems to the east and south of the Gulf of Maine, and therefore the symposium welcomes contributions from these areas as well.

Goals and Questions to be Addressed:  The overarching goal for the symposium is to synthesize and advance the ecosystem research that supports the future management of the Gulf of Maine. The symposium program will (1) inform participants about current objectives, constraints, and future influences on management of marine resources, (2) share new developments in the state of scientific knowledge in the Gulf of Maine, and (3) identify scientific requirements and directions to meet future needs from an ecosystem-based approach. 

In order to achieve this goal, the following questions will be addressed:

• What is our current understanding of the Gulf of Maine and its ecosystems, how does it compare to our knowledge in 1996 at the last GoM symposium, and what are the future concerns and knowledge requirements?

• What are the gaps in our knowledge under each theme?

• What is the state of our current scientific capacity to address management needs now and in the future?  What are the knowledge requirements to implement an ecosystem approach to management? 

• What is impeding us from making decisions now?

• What natural and social science research, and particular data sets and analyses, will be required over the next 5 years to meet management requirements for an ecosystem-based approach? 

• What science is required to observe and predict change and respond to future uncertainty?

• What role should scientists play in ensuring research is applied to current management questions?