❮ Projects page Public Laboratory for Open Technology and Science

Spatial Analysis Project:

Cornucopia-shaped Penobscot Bay is the heart of New England’s lobster industry, home of oyster farms and wild bloodworms, a destination for migrating wild Atlantic salmon, sturgeon and alewife, of seabirds galore, brimming with natural viewsheds, with windjammers jamming and nature-loving tourist traffic rising and falling with the seasons, filling every local wallet, directly and indirectly. Less obvious is the connection between urban development and the condition of marine and coastal habitats, and scenic viewsheds.

Stewarding Penobscot Bay is proving very difficult, primarily because decision makers and the public lack access to high quality historic and real time data about those places and waters they are being asked to make decisions about. The data is there – but located in hundreds of file drawers, databases, and websites with varying degrees of access.

The goal of this spatial analysis project is to provide decision makers and the public with the tools needed to understand these complex issues and make well balanced, science-based decisions about new coastal development projects, storm water and wastewater licensing, dredging applications, biocides application permitting and a host of other activities that can change Penobscot Bay’s natural productivity – above and below the tide line.

Data available:

• Historical aerial photography (USGS), underwater fly-by videography, sidescan sonar bathymetry, Maine’s scenic beauty algorithm
• Industrial enforcement / compliance sites (EPA)
• 1990s Environmental Impact Study
• Historic fishery maps (Bureau of Fisheries / NOAA) and Habitat Areas of Particular Concern HAPC by species (New England Fishery Management Council)
• Historic & recent water current, temperature, other factors from NERACOOS’ weather buoy
• Archived citizen water quality monitoring data
• Extensive government data on sewer system, land use

Maps and Reports that will be created:

• Generally, create arresting visual materials that synthesize historic, scientific, and experiential data to educate and influence
• Map the relationship between extension of sewer service and land use change
• Analyze the impact of human usage discharges on water quality

How the maps and reports will be used:

The project will be used to inform federal, state and local decision makers considering major actions affecting Rockport and Stockton Harbors. The former faces intensive residential and commercial development due to sewer extension within the coastal forests that buffer the shore from US Route 1. The latter contains contaminants from a century+ of chemical industry activity about which present day companies and agencies tell the public they lack enough quality information to take action.