The NaGISA Atlantic Ocean (AO) regional centre is coordinated by Dr. Gerhard Pohle and Lou Van Guelpen of the Huntsman Marine Science Centre in St Andrews New Brunswick, Canada. The office got underway in January 2007, with plans to coordinate NaGISA sites throughout the Atlantic but with special interest in the corridor between Canada and the United States and the West African coastline.

Within the first year of existence the AO centre established three sites within Canadian and US waters of the Gulf of Maine (A-C on map below), combining sampling with field work training (see workshops) at two rocky shore sites. These early accomplishments were made possible through the establishment of a number of successful cross-border and other science partnerships, including Suffolk University (Dr.T. Trott), University of Southern Maine (Dr. L. Incze), the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (Dr. P. Lawton), Acadia University (Drs. G. Gibson, A. Redden) and the University of New Brunswick (Dr. G. Saunders). The province of New Brunswick also provided financial backing through its Environmental Trust Fund, and school participation/training was initiated through local teacher participation (M. Head). Two of the three sites were succesfully resampled in 2008. with the same partners.

A number of northwest Atlantic sites were added in 2008, including within seagrass and rocky shore areas in Nova Scotia (D-E) and a seagrass site in the Gulf of St. Lawrence (F). Partnerships with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO), through the Bedford Institute of Oceanography (Drs. M. Wong & A. Silva) and the DFO Gulf Region (Dr. S. Courtenay) made this expansion possible.

Most importantly, the AO center has been in able to set foot in West Africa in 2008, establishing a rocky shore (G) and three seagrass sites (H) south of Dakar and in the Sine Saloum Delta, respectively. Close collaboration with Suffolk University's Boston campus (Dr. T. Trott) and Dakar campus (A. Sonko, M. Manga) made this complex venture come true.

With samples from 2007 now analyzed, the fall and winter will be preoccupied with sample processing and website data posting of material collected of 2008. Plans are underway to re-sample sites in 2009, at a minimum those sites which presently have only been sampled once, in order to ensure adequate baseline information.

AO Activities: Workshops and Meetings

Photos of sampling in the AO region: Florida 2005

                                                           Fundy 2007

Write up on  HNS activites in the Gulf of Maine Area

Map of Current Sampling Sites in Atlantic Ocean