Gulf of Maine Temperature Variability

Watercolor and Colored Pencil, 2016

Gulf of Maine Temperature Variability tells the story of increasing temperature fluctuations in Maine’s coastal marine environment. The watercolor uses ocean temperature data from the past 15 years to highlight how greater variability affects various species including ourselves. The piece also highlights the inattention to the coupled relationship between human action and environmental responses that has contributed to depleted fish stocks and increased ocean acidification. This Gulf of Maine story spans the water column: from the burrowing clams and bottom-dwelling lobster and shrimp, to the overfished cod which disappear across the painting as they struggle to return to a changing habitat, and finally up to the surface where fishers and managers may adopt sustainable practices or continue the practices that have resulted in overfishing and by-catch. Each species has a complex interaction with the environment, and if the imbalance of our give-and-take relationship with the ocean persists, we will continue to see new stresses that irreversibly change ocean conditions within the intertidal mudflats and into the yet unexplored ocean depths. 

Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5051723/