80% decline in phytoplankton
Some evening this October when the weather forecast calls for clear skies, William Balch and three other researchers from the Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences will drive a truck into the belly of the Nova Star ferry.
The truck carries a 20-foot container that serves as their laboratory.
Bigelow researchers have been taking water samples along the path of the ferry route since the late 1970s, when they threw buckets overboard the MV Marine Evangeline.
Senior Research Scientist William Balch of Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences inside his truck as he waits to board the Nova Star. Balch uses the Nova Star to study the distribution of phytoplankton in space and time. Portland Press Herald photo by Shawn Patrick Ouellette
Their findings are adding crucial data to the study of climate change and perhaps offering a sobering view of what could be the future of fisheries in the gulf of Maine.
