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.

Those of us lucky enough to live in Maine appreciate a healthy ocean. We appreciate the ocean for the fishing industry that brings us dinner and jobs. We appreciate the ocean for the lobsters that employ 18,000 and deliver $700 million each year. We appreciate the sparkling waters for the cool summer breezes that bring visitors from hot summer cities to admire and exclaim and spend their vacations on Maine shores.

Moreover, we appreciate the ocean for its variety of glorious animals – from humpback whales to harbor porpoises, from periwinkles to codfish, from osprey to eiders. All these ocean species make the Gulf of Maine home, too. Yes, we appreciate the Gulf of Maine on World Oceans Day.

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. In the shallows, acidification threatens lobsters and urchins and clams. Offshore, overfishing has endangered swordfish and tuna and cod. Along the intertidal zone, sewage and mercury threaten migratory birds, shellfish and tourism.

Maine writer Rachel Carson observed: “It is a curious situation that the sea, from which life first arose, should be threatened by the activities of one form of that life.” Other Maine watchers report the endangered status of right whales or the prevalence of red tide or the fact that lobsters are moving north toward cooler waters. Meanwhile, the Audubon Society calls seabirds “one of the most threatened bird groups on the planet.” The point is climate change mixes with industrial fishing and land-based pollution to damage the Gulf of Maine we love.

They say that with great gifts come great responsibilities. World Oceans Day occasions profound appreciation for our Gulf of Maine and profound concern for its future. On the one hand, Mainers have been blessed by this body of water rich with birds and fish and beauty for 400 years. On the other hand, there’s regular maintenance necessary so the incredible ocean stays healthy for the next 400. The United Nations’ World Oceans Day reminds me of my great responsibility to the Gulf of Maine.

I know I can support sustainable fisheries like local kelp farming. I can remember that fertilizers run from my lawn into the Gulf of Maine. I can reduce plastic. Even bigger than these individual choices, I can see that policy decisions at the state level can influence healthy fisheries, healthy shores and healthy adaptations to a changing climate.

One day can’t solve the many challenges facing the Gulf of Maine. But one day can remind us how much there is to appreciate and how much there is to do.

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