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44-482: The river runs southeastward, with New Hampshire to the south and west and Maine to the north and east, and empties into the Gulf of Maine east of Portsmouth, New Hampshire . The last 6 miles (10 km) before the sea are known as Portsmouth Harbor and have a tidal current of around 4 knots (7.4 km/h; 4.6 mph). The cities/towns of Portsmouth, New Castle , Newington , Kittery and Eliot have developed around

88-511: A distance of 12 miles (19 km). The Great Bay Estuary is a tidally-dominated system and is the drainage confluence of three major rivers, the Lamprey , Squamscott , and Winnicut . Four additional rivers flow into the system between Furber Strait and the open coast: the Cocheco , Salmon Falls , Bellamy , and Oyster rivers. The Piscataqua River is an ocean-dominated system extending from

132-417: A few of the cargoes. Salt hay harvested along the shores was used as food and bedding for horses and cattle. Sawmills located along the tidal rivers produced lumber that was exported to other U.S. ports. Core drilling shows evidence that the whole bay was once covered by several inches of sawdust from the dozens of sawmills around the bay's shores. The lumber produced also fueled the shipbuilding business along

176-480: A study conducted by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute . Traditional calculations "consistently over-estimated the abundance of cod." From 2004, temperatures rose by more than 0.4 °F (0.22 °C) per year, culminating in an ocean heat wave in the northwest Atlantic in 2012–13. Starting in the early 1990's, to prevent further degradation of the ecosystem, a number of closed areas have been created in which certain activities are banned for some or all parts of

220-658: Is a tidal estuary located in Strafford and Rockingham counties in eastern New Hampshire , United States . The bay occupies over 6,000 acres (24 km ), not including its several tidal river tributaries. Its outlet is at Hilton Point in Dover, New Hampshire , where waters from the bay flow into the Piscataqua River , thence proceeding southeast to the Atlantic Ocean near Portsmouth . The northern end of

264-559: Is one of the largest estuaries on the Atlantic Coast and at 10 miles (16 km) inland is one of the most recessed. Approximately 14,000 years ago, following the melting of the glaciers, the Great Bay estuary was formed. The glacial melt waters contributed to rising ocean waters, which flooded the land and filled the river valleys that make up Great Bay today. There are five very different water-dominated habitats that make up

308-602: The Bellamy , Oyster , Lamprey , Squamscott , and Winnicut , and the Great Works River drains into the tidal portion of the Salmon Falls. Gulf of Maine The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America . It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in

352-659: The Lamprey River in Newmarket, New Hampshire . All but the salmon and sturgeon remain, with fishing for striped bass and bluefish common recreational sports. In the mid 1630s some of the region's earliest European settlers built a sawmill in what is today's Berwick, Maine , on a tributary above the head of tide of the Piscataqua. Thought to be the first over-shot water-powered site in America, it became known as

396-611: The Laurentide Ice Sheet stripped sedimentary soil away from the coastline, leaving a shore that is predominantly rocky and scenic, lacking the sandy beaches found to the south along the Eastern Seaboard . The only significant coastal developments are located in the Boston , Portsmouth , Portland and Saint John metropolitan areas. The underwater features of the seabed sculpted during the lower sea levels of

440-523: The Nantucket Shoals. The watershed of the gulf encompasses an area of 69,000 square miles (180,000 km ), including all of Maine, 70% of New Hampshire, 56% of New Brunswick, 41% of Massachusetts, and 36% of Nova Scotia. The watershed also includes a small southern portion of the Canadian province of Quebec , which is less than 1% of the province's area. Significant rivers that drain into

484-637: The ice ages make the gulf a semi-enclosed sea bounded to the south and east by underwater banks . Georges Bank in particular, on its southern end, shelters the gulf from the Gulf Stream . Gulf of Maine waters are more strongly influenced by the Labrador Current , making the gulf waters significantly colder and more nutrient-rich than those found to the south. Undersea valleys in the central basin can reach depths of 1,500 feet (500 m), while undersea mountains rise up 800 feet (240 m) from

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528-710: The province of Maine in France . Massachusetts Bay , Penobscot Bay , Passamaquoddy Bay , and the Bay of Fundy are all arms of the Gulf of Maine. The Gulf of Maine is a roughly rectangular depression with a surface area of around 36,000 square miles (93,000 km ), enclosed to the west and north by the North American mainland and communicating with the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast. The region's glaciation by

572-711: The "Great Works", giving name to today's Great Works River . After the Allies' European victory in the Second World War , four surrendered German U-boats traveled upriver to the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard , with their captains and crews interned as POWs at Portsmouth Naval Prison . U-805 was the first to arrive, towed up the river to a rendezvous with U.S. officials on a tugboat off the Navy Yard on May 15, 1945. U-873 and U-1228 arrived

616-530: The 19th and early 20th centuries. Gristmills and tanneries on the rivers of the estuary contributed significantly to the chemical pollution until the mid 20th century. When the Greek entrepreneur Aristotle Onassis proposed building the Olympic Oil Refinery in the town of Durham along the shore of Great Bay in 1973, local citizens mobilized and, by exercising their right to "home rule", defeated

660-493: The Great Bay. In order of abundance they are: eelgrass meadows, mudflats , salt marsh , channel bottom, and rocky intertidal . These habitats are home to 162 bird, fish and plant species (23 of which are threatened or endangered), countless invertebrate species and even the occasional harbor seal. Eelgrass is one of a very few underwater marine flowering plants. It has many functions in the estuarine system. The eelgrass community provides habitat for several organisms, especially

704-521: The Gulf include, from east to west, the Annapolis , Shubenacadie , Salmon , Petitcodiac , Saint John , Magaguadavic , St. Croix , Penobscot , Kennebec , Saco , Piscataqua , Merrimack and Charles rivers; the Saint John and Penobscot have the greatest discharge. The cold waters, extreme tidal mixing, and diverse bottom of the gulf make it one of the most productive marine environments in

748-615: The Gulf of Maine at Portsmouth Harbor and forming the border of New Hampshire and Maine to the fork of its tributaries, the Salmon Falls and Cocheco rivers. These rivers, several small creeks and their tributaries and ocean water from the Gulf of Maine create the Great Bay estuarine hydrosystem. The tidal range is dramatic within Great Bay. Average depth of the embayment is 2.7 meters (8.9 ft) with channels extending to 17.7 m (58 ft). The water surface of Great Bay covers 8.9 square miles (23 km ) at high tide and 4.2 square miles (11 km ) at low tide, leaving greater than 50% of

792-410: The Gulf of Maine system, particularly at the boundary with the Bay of Fundy , are also home to the summering grounds for many different bird and whale species, most notably the highly endangered North Atlantic right whale . The gulf was home to the sea mink until its extinction in the late 1800s. Water temperatures in the Gulf of Maine are rapidly rising due to human-induced climate change . Both

836-655: The Gulf of Maine, specifically in the Georges Bank region. This dispute was taken to the International Court of Justice , which delineated a maritime boundary through the gulf in 1984. The two nations continue to disagree on the sovereignty of Machias Seal Island and the waters surrounding it in the northeastern part of the gulf. In recognition of the gulf's importance to marine habitat, both nations currently maintain complementary embargoes against offshore oil and gas exploration activities on Georges Bank in

880-557: The Labrador Current and Gulf Stream are warming, and the Gulf Stream is spreading out and delivering more water to the Gulf of Maine. As a result, it has become too warm for cod as well as kelp forests. Studies found that some areas, such as Ammen Rock Site 1, witnessed a 36.2% decrease in kelp between 1987 and 2015, while nearby shallow coastal kelp populations have been declining since the 1970s. Alongside this decline,

924-693: The North Atlantic, and it furnishes habitat for more than 3,000 marine species and birds, including most notably large marine species such as haddock , pinnipeds , the Acadian redfish ( Sebastes fasciatus ), the Atlantic herring ( Clupea harengus ), and the American lobster ( Homarus americanus ), which grows to famously large sizes in the gulf. The biodiversity and productivity of the area are supported by kelp forest habitats that are found along

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968-594: The Pacific war. The shipyard is located on Seavey's Island in Kittery, Maine near the Piscataqua's mouth. Long regarded by some as being in New Hampshire, the yard was claimed by that state into the 2000s. However, the Piscataqua River border dispute over Seavey's Island was settled by a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court decision which cited a 1977 decision affirming New Hampshire's claim that the state borders met at

1012-623: The Piscataqua River until steam-powered steel vessels became cheaper to build. Brickyards also dotted the shores of Great Bay and its tributaries. Blue marine clay was harvested from along the estuary shores and made into bricks that were used to build locally and all around New England. Cotton mills were an important part of the Industrial Revolution. Wherever gundalow ports were, mills were built. The estuary continued to be heavily used for commercial purposes throughout

1056-470: The bay exposed at low tide. The Great Bay Estuary, when counting the entire tidal system including the Piscataqua River , meets the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of the Piscataqua, between New Castle, New Hampshire and Kittery, Maine . Tides carry salt water into the estuary twice daily from the Atlantic. Here it mingles with the fresh water influence from the various rivers that empty into Great Bay. It

1100-488: The bay, near its outlet, is referred to as Little Bay . Located within the Gulf of Maine watershed, the Great Bay Estuary is a drowned river valley composed of high-energy tidal waters, deep channels and fringing mudflats. The entire estuary extends inland from the mouth of the Piscataqua River between Kittery, Maine , and New Castle, New Hampshire through Little Bay into Great Bay proper at Furber Strait,

1144-552: The center of the river's navigable channel as described in a 1740 decree, thus placing the island in Maine. The Piscataqua River and its tributaries, including Great Bay , form a substantial estuarine environment . Two rivers, the Salmon Falls and Cochecho , join to form the Piscataqua on the eastern edge of Dover, New Hampshire , at the northwest corner of Eliot, Maine . Five rivers with tidal stretches flow into Great Bay :

1188-481: The coastal zones of the gulf. In the Gulf of Maine, different kelp macroalgae species are found at various depths. At depths less than 5 meters, Alaria esculenta is most abundant, while the Saccharina species such as S. latissima and S. digita are the species primarily seen at depths of 5–15 meters. In the deeper waters, Agarum clathratum are more abundant in the rocky subtidal zone. The waters of

1232-404: The extensive mudflat habitat for feeding, reproduction and protection from predators. The channel bottom habitat provides a place for fish and invertebrates to move to at low tide. It is also the preferred habitat for oysters, a highly specialized animal that only lives in estuaries. Rocky intertidal habitat provides firm anchorage for seaweeds, barnacles, and ribbed mussels. Each winter, much of

1276-654: The first sawmill in the colonies in 1623, the same year the contemporary spelling "Piscataqua" was first recorded. Once salmon, sturgeon, oysters, clams, scallops, lobsters, mussels, eels, seals, and many others species of marine life were common in the river, evidenced by such tributaries as the Salmon Falls River , Sturgeon Creek and Seal Rock in Eliot, Maine , the Oyster River in Durham, New Hampshire , and

1320-511: The harbor. Named by the area's original Abenaki inhabitants, the word Piscataqua is believed to be a combination of peske (branch) with tegwe (a river with a strong current, possibly tidal). The first known European to explore the river was Martin Pring in 1603. Captain John Smith placed a spelling similar to "Piscataqua" for the region on his map of 1614. The river was the site of

1364-426: The kelp beds have been replaced by invasive turf, defined as macroalgae that provide little three-dimensional structure but form on the bottom layers as filaments, branches, or plumes. In southwestern areas, turf is now covering 50–60% of the ocean floor. This, along with past overfishing, has helped push stocks towards collapse and hampered its recovery despite deep reductions in the number of fish caught, according to

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1408-404: The next day. U-234 , by far the greatest prize, arrived on May 19, seized off Nova Scotia by the U.S. destroyer escort Sutton . It had left Germany with a cargo bound for Japan of a disassembled Messerschmitt Me 262 jet plane, the most sophisticated fighter of World War II; two top Japanese scientists; and two high-ranking Nazi officers. While this was enough to create a media sensation, it

1452-462: The northeast. The gulf includes the entire coastlines of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine , as well as Massachusetts north of Cape Cod, and the southern and western coastlines of the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia , respectively. The gulf was named for the adjoining English colonial Province of Maine , which was in turn likely named by early explorers after

1496-532: The proposal by a margin of nine to one. The Gulf of Maine , of which Great Bay is a branch, is often considered by scientists and the public alike as one of the most pristine marine environments on the East Coast of the United States . As a result of its water circulation patterns and the combined productivity of its seaweed , salt marsh grasses , and phytoplankton , the Gulf of Maine is also one of

1540-402: The sea floor, almost reaching the surface in some locations, or even exceeding it, creating islands. There are three major basins contained within the Gulf of Maine: Wilkinson Basin to the west, Jordan Basin in the northeast, and Georges Basin in the south, which are isolated from each other beneath the 650-foot (200 m) isobath . Georges Basin, just north of Georges Bank, is the deepest of

1584-410: The seemingly endless supply of resources. They used the bay to transport their harvests. The tidal influence was the perfect way to move goods without much human or animal effort. A simple, flat-bottomed boat, the gundalow , was developed to make use of the tides and carry heavy loads in shallow waters. Gundalows transported many types of freight. Saltmarsh hay, lumber, fish, clay and textiles were just

1628-612: The shores of Massachusetts Bay in 1620. The cod fisheries that flourished in this ecosystem were able to support the Industrial Revolution occurring in Europe as well as playing a role during the 17th through early 19th century’s trade routes between Africa, the Caribbean, North America and Europe. In the 1960s and 1970s, there was a dispute between Canada and the United States over fishing and other resource rights in

1672-745: The southern part of the gulf. As of the past twenty years, however, traditional maritime fisheries focused on large fish species such as cod experienced a stock depletion that hurt commercial fishing. In response, harvesting of lobsters and other invertebrates rose. These changes can largely be attributed to anthropogenic factors. There has also been a rise in marine aquaculture in the area, following global trends. Such aquaculture species include Atlantic salmon, oysters, clams, mussels, and more. [REDACTED] Media related to Gulf of Maine at Wikimedia Commons Great Bay (New Hampshire) 43°04′01″N 70°52′07″W  /  43.06694°N 70.86861°W  / 43.06694; -70.86861 Great Bay

1716-442: The standing crop of seaweeds becomes entrapped in ice. When the ice begins to break up in spring, the seaweeds are torn from the rocks and enter into the detritus cycle. Native Americans were the first to live on the shores of Great Bay. They survived on the abundant fish, shellfish, waterfowl and mammals that lived in and around the estuary. The early 17th century brought the arrival of European settlers who also took advantage of

1760-698: The three at just over 1,200 feet (370 m) and generates a pocket at the end of the Northeast Channel, a deep fissure between Georges Bank and Browns Bank, the southwestern edge of the Scotian Shelf . The Northeast Channel is the major channel between the Gulf and the rest of the Northwest Atlantic. A secondary, shallower connection to the rest of the Atlantic is the Great South Channel, located between Georges Bank and

1804-416: The world's most productive water bodies. Historically, it has been a source of livelihood for tens of thousands of commercial fishermen. More recently, recreation- and tourism-related employment has been recognized as a major contributor to the region's economy. The Great Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve occupies several portions of the bay's shoreline and protects numerous land and water areas around

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1848-664: The year. The gulf's relative proximity to Europe compared to other locations on the opposite side of the Atlantic made it an early destination for European colonization. French settlers founded a settlement on St. Croix Island in 1604. English settlers founded the Popham Colony on an island in the Kennebec River in 1607, the same year as the Jamestown settlement, followed by the Plymouth Colony on

1892-423: The young of fish and invertebrates. Eelgrass roots help stabilize the bottom sediments. Eelgrass plants help maintain water quality and clarity by filtering the water allowing sediments to settle and then using the excess nutrients for growth. More than half of Great Bay is exposed as mudflats at low tide. Worms, soft-shelled clams, mud snails, green crabs, wading birds, horseshoe crabs and many other animals utilize

1936-462: Was decades later before the U.S. government revealed that the sub also carried a top secret load of uranium oxide produced by the German atomic weapons program bound for a last-ditch Japanese effort. Instead, the extremely valuable nuclear material was diverted to the U.S.' top secret Manhattan Project , and ended up part of the bomb the U.S. Army Air Corps dropped over Hiroshima to hasten the end of

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