. An ecological characterization of Coastal Maine (north and east of Cape Elizabeth). Coastal ecology -- Maine. Chapter 4 The Marine System Authors: Bigelow Laboratories for Ocean Sciences. The marine system is the largest and most ubiquitous aquatic system in coastal Maine. Coastal Maine waters support many industries, including commercial fishing, transportation, waste disposal, and recreation. They sustain diverse food webs of organisms that directly and indirectly benefit people. Ultimately, the marine system receives waters that pass through all other systems in the coastal zone. This cha
. An ecological characterization of Coastal Maine (north and east of Cape Elizabeth). Coastal ecology -- Maine. Chapter 4 The Marine System Authors: Bigelow Laboratories for Ocean Sciences. The marine system is the largest and most ubiquitous aquatic system in coastal Maine. Coastal Maine waters support many industries, including commercial fishing, transportation, waste disposal, and recreation. They sustain diverse food webs of organisms that directly and indirectly benefit people. Ultimately, the marine system receives waters that pass through all other systems in the coastal zone. This chapter will present some basic concepts and data on the functions of the marine system. Such information is essential if wise decisions balancing the various uses of the marine system are to be made. The marine system is that area exposed to full-strength sea water (over 30 ppt salinity) between extreme high water of a spring tide and the 300-foot (100 m) depth contour. It is located along the shoreline in open embayments and seaward of the headlands and encompasses the overlying water as well as the substratum beneath the water (figure 4-1). The habitats encompassed by the marine system include the water column and the major bottom substrata of unconsolidated sediments and rocky bottoms. Unconsolidated sediments include cobble, gravel, sand, and mud, as well as eelgrass or emergent wetland subhabitats growing on the sediments and streams flowing over the sediments. Rocky substrata are bedrock or boulder with algal beds (kelp) attached to the rock. The area between the tides (intertidal zone) is ecologically different from the area that is submerged at all times (subtidal zone), hence, the two zones and their habitats are discussed separately here. The area of marine waters along the shoreline of the characterization area is 172,705 acres (69,921 ha; National Wetlands Inventory, preliminary data). The acreage of marine waters between the embayments and 300-foot (100 m) depth cont
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