Join us in Freeport, ME October 27-28. Renew connections with old colleagues and foster new collaborations.
The Summit starts on Monday with field trips and workshops and then there will be an evening reception and trivia at Mast Landing Brewing Company. On Tuesday, we’ll gather at The Harraseekett Inn in Freeport, ME for a keynote address from Diana Payne, CT Sea Grant and the IOC Group of Experts on Ocean Literacy, followed by concurrent presentations.
We hope to see you for this fun two days of learning and connection!
SAME (Southern Association of Marine Educators) is excited to host the NMEA 2025 annual conference in Lafayette, Louisiana, June 29-July 3, 2025 —a special event that will bring together hundreds of professional educators dedicated to teaching about our marine, coastal and aquatic environments.
NMEA members are a group of inspired, passionate people who promote the conservation, enjoyment, and wise use of our aquatic resources by teaching others. We look forward to showcasing our beautiful region through inspirational speakers, field adventures and excursions, engaging presentations, institutional collaborations, and community partnerships.
Join us Friday, March 28th, for a full day of marine science and conservation at the Blue Ocean Symposium! Experts will share insights on whale and marine debris research, ocean monitoring, bio-plastics, and more. Hear from leading scientists, conservationists, and researchers on the latest developments in marine science. Lunch is provided! If you can’t attend in person, that’s okay! You can register to receive a recording of the day to watch at your leisure! You can view the full-day agenda and register at https://store.blueoceansociety.org/events Register Here
Thank you to everyone who attended our 2024 Annual Meeting on December 4 in Durham, NH. We enjoyed great food and fun trivia, and members showcased their creativity by showing up in costume! Here’s a 50-second photo recap:
Welcome to our new board members Kim Clark, Juliet Fluty, Keri Kaczor, and Karlee Markovich!
Congratulations and thank you to our officers:
Cassie Stymiest, President Dari Christenson, Past President Michael Doherty, President-Elect Tara Hicks-Johnson, Treasurer Daryn Clevesy, Secretary
Thank you, Dari, for your leadership over the past year!
Annual Meeting Photos
GOMMEA Board of Directors 2024-2025
Dari Christenson(2026) NH Sea Grant & UNH Extension, Marine Education Program Manager
Kim Clarke* (2027) Gulf of Maine Research Institute, LabVenture Visit Manager
Daryn Clevesy (2025) Educational Passages, Program Coordinator
Mike Doherty (2026) UNH, Aquaculture Specialist
Patricia Halpin (2026) UNH Manchester, Professor Physiology and Marine Toxicology
Juliet Fluty* (2025) St. James Elementary, Biddeford, ME, Teacher
Nell Herrmann (2025) Blue Hill Consolidated School, Science Teacher
Tara Hicks-Johnson(2026) UNH Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping, Outreach Specialist
Keri Kaczor* (2027) UMaine Sea Grant, Environmental Literacy and WD Program Manager
With a new year comes new beginnings. I feel blessed to be the President of GOMMEA at this bizarre time. I am, like so many of us, overwhelmed with day-to-day details as well as with the conversations that are happening on a societal level. Somewhere in between those extremes, my commitment to GOMMEA serves to illuminate the support, inspiration, and hope that this network provides for me. Our volunteer board has pulled together a newsletter that is informative, eye-catching, supportive, and inspiring – kind of like our popular Ocean Sunfish Paper Wreath Activity that nearly went viral on social media in December (reaching over 8,500 people!).
Highlights include follow ups from Underwater in the Gulf of Maine with Andy Martinez, our member highlight, and upcoming events. There is so much natural beauty in our region and so much wonderful work being done – we hope you find this newsletter an enriching part of your day! Please reach out to any of us with stories, events, or connections that you’d like to share with our GOMMEA community.
Kindest regards and best for you and yours in 2021.
Deb Debiegun
Wildlife Photography in the Gulf of Maine Watershed
By: Ron Watson A wildlife photographer’s paradise. That is how I would categorize the Gulf of Maine (GOM) watershed. This nutrient rich 69,000 sq. mile area, historically has been considered to be one of the most biodiverse and productive habitats in the Atlantic…Keep Reading
Creature Feature: Lumpfish! Applications for Sustainable Practices in Aquaculture
By: Mike Doherty
Lumpfish, Cyclopterus americanus, are a unique and interesting fish found here in the north Atlantic. While it is not exactly sought after for its meat, lumpfish have recently entered the spotlight in the aquaculture industry…Keep Reading
Business Member Spotlight: Rozalia Project for a Clean Ocean
By: Deb Debiegun
The Rozalia Project reaches youth at ports visited by SV American Promise while educators, reporters, and artists on board document marine debris collection efforts of crew and student groups as well. Students are encouraged to reflect on marine debris that they have seen and foster their wildest ideas for solutions. By fostering the engineering process and shining a spotlight on the problem of marine debris, the Rozalia Project gives hope that our youth will come up with solutions for tomorrow.
Executive Director Ashley Sullivan writes that “Marine debris is a problem that affects coastal communities first and each of us has the power to have positive impact through our behaviors. The Rozalia Project seeks opportunities to work with the future change makers of tomorrow, educators and organizations throughout the Gulf of Maine to share our knowledge, our data and engage learners to work on solutions for healthier oceans. Please reach out to us to learn more about our current projects, we love to talk all things ocean!”
February 1-March 31: Recycle Regatta, presented by Educational Passages, New England Science and Sailing and the North American Marine Environment Protection Association. More info
February 11, 6:00 PM: Virtual Ocean Trivia, presented by Seacoast Science Center. More info
February 25, 6:00 PM: Virtual Ocean Trivia, presented by Seacoast Science Center. More info
February 25: 6:30 PM: Marine Debris in the Gulf of Maine: Virtual Evening Program, presented by Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation. More info
March 11, 6:00 PM: Virtual Ocean Trivia, presented by Seacoast Science Center. More info
March 25, 4:00-5:30 PM: Teach About Microplastics! Workshop, offered by Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation. More info
March 25, 6:00 PM: Virtual Ocean Trivia, presented by Seacoast Science Center. More info
March 25: 6:30 PM: Action for the Ocean: Virtual Evening Program, presented by Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation. More info
Also be sure to check out the NMEA Ocean at Home Calendar – Listing of virtual and scheduled events from around the country related to marine or aquatic sciences. Click here if you have an event you’d like us to share in our next newsletter.
Connect With Us
Consider joining the board – Each year at our annual meeting, we vote on new board members. Board members are responsible for attending regular meetings (currently monthly), steering GOMMEA’s programs and providing financial and strategic oversight. You must be a current GOMMEA member to join the board. We are also looking for a new Treasurer. For more information on board membership, email us!
If you missed the GOMMEA Annual Meeting on October 23, or if the narrated photographic tour of Underwater in the Gulf of Maine was just that good that you want to see it again (it is!), you can watch it on the GOMMEA website!
This year at our Annual Meeting our members approved a new slate of Board of Directors, which marked the end of board service for several board members, thanked here in alphabetical order:
Sara Ellis has been GOMMEA’s Treasurer for many terms; her organization, clarity, and follow-through will be missed, as will her laughter, joie-de-vie, and level headedness.
Katie Flavin’s tireless efforts to support GOMMEA events at GMRI will be remembered.
Elissa Koskela, who was one of the Co-Chairs for the NMEA 2019 Conference, also served as GOMMEA’s Secretary. We will miss her abilities to see details in the larger context, to find details in notes from past meetings, and to summarize complex discussions succinctly!
Lili (Annelise) Pugh’s contributions have been thoughtful and sincere, especially regarding improving membership processes and connections.
Thank you also to middle school teachers Sunny Sadana and Thom Smith, for the work that they do with students and for their curriculum contributions.
We look forward to staying in touch with all of you. As membership is open to anyone, you will all continue to be part of the GOMMEA network.
A big thank you to Jen Kennedy for her steady leadership, organization, and listening as President for the past two years. Thank you to our new slate of officers, which includes myself, Deb Debiegun as President, Julie Taylor as President-Elect, Andrea Southworth and Melissa Luetje as Co-Secretaries, Tara Hicks-Johnson as Treasurer. I am excited to work with these officers, as well as other Directors, as we all discuss and steer GOMMEA’s direction together. I am also looking forward to the input of our three new Directors: Jessica Antonez, Leia Lowery, and Dari Christenson. Welcome! You can read all the board bios here.
Together, we can connect ourselves and others to the Gulf of Maine. We can support each others’ education, conservation, research, and teaching efforts. We can share our passions to appreciate and care for a healthy Gulf of Maine.
Thank you to all members for your support! Thank you to all Board of Directors for all of your time! Thank you to you for reading this!
Best, -Deb Deb Debiegun GOMMEA President
About the presenter
Underwater in the Gulf of Maine with Andy Martinez
Underwater photographer Andy Martinez has been diving since 1969. He began capturing his views beneath the waves just a couple years later around 1971. “I have always been interested in marine life and learning about the interactions of its plants and animals,” he said. Like many of us, his inspiration came from watching Cousteau specials. Andy and his wife Candace are closer connected to the Massachusetts Marine Educators as they live in Massachusetts (Candace even served as MME President 1989-91), but recently joined GOMMEA to continue their work in the Gulf of Maine to “inspire young people to the wonders of the region.”
As a marine educator, you have probably picked up Andy’s popular book, Marine Life of the North Atlantic. The idea to make a field guide came during a dive trip to Quebec. He saw how interested the local divers were in marine life and that we did not have one specifically to our region. Andy and a friend originally self-published this book in 1994, but later editions were distributed by other publishers and helped to distribute the book to curious explorers throughout the country, but page limits restricted the content that was included. He and a friend then created an app,📱Marine Life – North Atlantic, so that he could upload hundreds of photos showing animal behaviors such as mating, protecting eggs, defense, and color variations. This provides viewers to better and more accurately identify species in an interactive way as they can receive notifications of plants/animals they hope to see, keep life lists automatically, record what they have seen in their outings or dives, and always have it in their pocket.
In the book and app, you’ll see more about Andy’s favorite animal – the Spiny Lumpsucker. He said that it “is a cool little fish that can be found in many colors. Sometimes while photographing it, it will jump and sit on your camera or arm and watch you. Definitely puts a smile on your face.”
Andy has spent a lot of time underwater, mostly in Cape Ann and the Bay of Fundy region, but around the world too. In the last few years, he says he has been diving in Indonesia and the Philippines. He said “the biological diversity is amazing,” and that “two years ago I was photographing humpback whales and calves in Tonga and that was very exciting to be with an animal so large and yet so graceful.”
But what is the most memorable thing he’s seen underwater in the Gulf of Maine? Andy says that, “It is hard to pick one memorable moment. There are many little moments that may not seem like a big event to some people… Watching a female Jonah Crab’s eggs hatch into larvae, coming upon walls of colorful anemones, watching a male Shanny guard its eggs, photographing a Wolffish pair in its den, or a 20lb lobster jump over me as I was lying on the bottom. But, it could be just a hermit crab going about its business. it is all like watching a full-length nature film every time.” As a diver for over 3 decades, Andy has observed a lot of change too. He noted that “fish like Scuplins and Goosefish, but also shrimp that once were common are not as common anymore. In Maine, Basket Stars and Strawberry Soft Coral were everywhere, but not now. Anemone numbers are down also.”
Want to start diving to see these creatures yourselves but not sure where to start? Andy recommends visiting your nearby dive shop – Aqua Diving Academy in ME, Atlantic Aquasport in NH, Undersea Divers in MA to name a few.
I hope this finds you well during this challenging time. Despite the pandemic, we’ve been busy at GOMMEA, holding virtual meetings and planning ways to keep our members connected.
We’re planning some events in the coming months, including some virtual happy hours for GOMMEA members! I’m looking forward to World Ocean Day this Monday, June 8 and hope we all get a chance to spend time outdoors, even if it can’t be in or on the ocean.
Please consider joining us! As a member, you’ll receive the full version of this newsletter, and first notice of upcoming events. Plus, you’ll be supporting our mission of helping our members connect people to the Gulf of Maine through education and experiences.
Have a safe, healthy summer!
Jen
Jen Kennedy GOMMEA President
What’s inside the June 2020 Newsletter?
World Ocean Day Celebration Events Gulf of Maine Site Spotlight: Odiorne State Park, NH GOMMEA Member Highlight: Anna Dibble, Eco Artist Business Member Spotlight: Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve A full list of events happening around the Gulf of Maine, including Save the Date for the GOMMEA Annual Meeting October 23
Consider joining the board – Each year at our annual meeting, we vote on new board members. Board members are responsible for attending regular meetings (currently monthly), steering GOMMEA’s programs and providing financial and strategic oversight. You must be a current GOMMEA member to join the board. We are also looking for a new Treasurer. For more information on board membership, email us!
Visit www.gommea.org for up to date links and resources
In the book and app, you’ll see more about Andy’s favorite animal – the Spiny Lumpsucker. He said that it “is a cool little fish that can be found in many colors. Sometimes while photographing it, it will jump and sit on your camera or arm and watch you. Definitely puts a smile on your face.”
Watching a female Jonah Crab’s eggs hatch into larvae, coming upon walls of colorful anemones, watching a male Shanny guard its eggs, photographing a Wolffish pair in its den, or a 20lb lobster jump over me as I was lying on the bottom. But, it could be just a hermit crab going about its business. it is all like watching a full-length nature film every time.” As a diver for over 3 decades, Andy has observed a lot of change too. He noted that “fish like Scuplins and Goosefish, but also shrimp that once were common are not as common anymore. In Maine, Basket Stars and Strawberry Soft Coral were everywhere, but not now. Anemone numbers are down also.”
I hope this finds you well during this challenging time. Despite the pandemic, we’ve been busy at GOMMEA, holding virtual meetings and planning ways to keep our members connected.
World Ocean Day Celebration Events