Coastal Maine Maps, Datasets, and Aerial Photos

• Aerial Photography of the Maine Coast

This site has been developed to provide a planning and response tool for Maine and New Hampshire coastal spill responders. The photographs for Maine were from a coast-wide eelgrass mapping project and represent scanned images for the years 1992 to 1997. Photographs are organized by region.

The 1992 photographs were provided by the Maine Department of Transportation. Photographs for New Hampshire were provided by Public Service of New Hampshire and were acquired by PSNH for use by the response community.

• Aquaculture Sites - Inventory of all Finfish, Shellfish, Experimental, and Limited Purpose Aquaculture licenses and lease sites on the Maine Coast, updated annually. This page is designed to provide the public, applicants, and leaseholders with useful and accurate information about marine aquaculture in Maine. Maps for sections of the coast can be accessed by selecting the region of interest from a list of areas.

• Eelgrass Beds - Using aerial photography, Maine's eelgrass beds were mapped between 1992 and 2005.  They form an important marine and estuarine coastal aquatic habitat for the state. Along with other plants, eelgrass forms the base of food production in the sea, provides shelter for juvenile fish and invertebrates, is a site for primary settlement of the larvae of some bivalve mollusks, and in certain locations helps to stabilize unconsolidated sediments and shorelines.

• Lobster Zone Maps - maps of Maine lobster management zones A to G.

• Remote Operated Vehicle (ROV) Groundline Survey - A federal mandate to reduce the number of whale entanglements that involve fishing gear has prompted the State of Maine to work closely with its commercial fishing industry to devise gear modifications that reduce the likelihood of entanglement. To determine the State’s response to proposed amendments to the Atlantic Large Whale Take Reduction Plan, the Maine Department of Marine Resources (DMR) is investigating the underwater profile properties of groundlines (rope between the traps) used by the Maine inshore lobster industry. Select a survey area for maps showing lobster zones and a list of activities in each zone.

• Atlantic Salmon Habitat Atlas Map Series, by watershed in PDF format, c/o the Maine Office of GIS

• Shellfish Closures - visit either the red tide closure inventory or the sanitation closure inventory for detailed maps and descriptions of shellfishing areas currently closed due to red tide or pollution.

• Molluscan Shellfish Distribution Datasets, c/o the Maine Office of GIS.  Shapefiles of the distributions of softshell clam (Mya arenaria), blue mussel (Mytilus edulis), European oyster (Ostrea edulis), American oyster (Crassostrea virginica), hard clam - also called quahog (Mercenaria mercenaria), atlantic surf clam (Spisula solidissima), razor clam (Ensis directus) and sea scallop (Placopectin magellanicus) were generated with input from local shellfish harvesters, clam committees, biologists and others in 2009.  For more information, see the Maine Molluscan Shellfish Resource Mapping Project, pdf file, 8 pages, 29 kb.