History of Oceanography in the Offshore Waters 

 of the Gulf of Maine 



By 



JOHN B. COLTON, Jr., Fishery Biologist (Research) 



Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Biological Laboratory 



Woods Hole, Massachusetts 



ABSTRACT 



Published reports through June 1963 of oceanographic surveys of the offshore 

 waters of the Gulf of Maine for the period of record through 1960 are summarized. 

 Studies of biology, chemistry, physics, geology, paleontology, ecology, and fishery 

 hydrography are included. Emphasis is given to oceanographic surveys which appear 

 to be least publicized. Summaries are presented in chronological order according to 

 the year of the surveys. A bibliography and subject index of papers referred to in 

 the text are given. 



INTRODUCTION 



The original purpose of this brief history of 

 oceanography in the Gulf of Maine was to 

 summarize past studies of the waters of the 

 Continental Shelf from Cape Sable to Cape 

 Cod as an aid in planning oceanographic re- 

 search at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Biological 

 Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass. I decided, 

 however, that such a summary would be 

 useful to other laboratories and individuals 

 concerned with the oceanography of Continental 

 Shelf waters. An oceanographic history and a 

 summary of the developments in the study of 

 Canadian Atlantic waters east of Cape Sable 

 were given by Hachey (1961). I have used the 

 term "oceanography" in its broadest sense; 

 it includes studies of biology, chemistry, 

 physics, geology, paleontology, ecology, and 

 fishery hydrography. I have excluded publica- 

 tions which do not include environmental data 

 or references. Published reports through June 

 1963 of oceanographic surveys for the period 

 of record through I960 are included in this 

 summary. 



The offing of Cape Cod including Nantucket 

 Shoals separates the coast line between Cape 

 Sable and Cape Hatteras into two geographically 

 distinct areas. The oceanic bight bounded by 

 Nantucket Shoals and Cape Cod on the west 

 and Cape Sable on the east (approximately 

 long. 65i and 70 W. respectively) is known 

 as the "Gulf of Maine", and by arbitrary def- 

 inition (Bigeiow, 1926) included Georges and 

 Browns Banks and waters out to the 200-m. 

 contour. The area of the Gulf of Maine is 

 about 36,000 square miles, and the shoreline 

 from Cape Cod to Cape Sable is approximately 



600 miles. The area bounded by Cape Cod and 

 Cape Hatteras (approximately lat. 36 N.) is 

 known as the "Middle Atlantic Bight" and has 

 a surface area of about 29,000 square miles 

 and 500 miles of shoreline. 



Not only can the two areas be separated 

 geographically, but there is rather an abrupt 

 general division between the biological and 

 hydrographic properties of the water east and 

 west of Cape Cod (Bigeiow, 1927; Parr, 1933). 

 The boreal waters over most of the Gulf of 

 Maine are well mixed by strong tidal currents, 

 while the circulation in the warmer coastal 

 water west of Cape Cod is more sluggish, and 

 its chemical and physical properties are less 

 complex. The offing of Cape Cod also appears 

 to be a definite transition zone (probably 

 thermal) for some northern and southern 

 species of fish and invertebrates, both pelagic 

 and benthic (Bigeiow and Sears, 1 939). Usually 

 the same species -composition of plankton 

 dominates the community to the east as well 

 as the west of Cape Cod, but there are, in 

 general, more tropical forms and a greater 

 plankton volume to the west and more sub- 

 arctic forms in the Gulf of Maine. There is 

 a different assemblage of foraminiferal faunas 

 in the bottom sediments of the two areas 

 (Parker, 1948), and the species composition 

 and abundance of benthic and pelagic fish vary 

 markedly between the two regions, 'with boreal 

 species dominating in the Gulf of Maine and 

 warm water species being more abundant in 

 the Middle Atlantic Bight. Also, the spawning 

 habits and the age of maturity of both in- 

 vertebrates (Coe, 1938) and vertebrates (Bige- 

 iow and Schroeder, 1953) vary between the two 

 areas. In addition, oceanographic surveys 

 have, for the most part, been restricted to 



