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September 27, 2004

Next: Oceans of opportunity | Don Perkins President, Gulf of Maine Research Institute, Portland

By Sean Donahue
When Don Perkins wants to offer a different perspective on the Gulf of Maine, he pulls out satellite pictures of the earth's surface at night. In the photos, light from cities and towns appears as white splotches against a dark background, and most of the northeast coast of the United States sports a thick band of white. But when the photo zooms in on Maine, those white spots shrink and fade into a vast darkness.

It's an image that Perkins, president of the Gulf of Maine Research Institute in Portland, says demonstrates one of Maine's unique competitive advantages: Our relatively small population translates into less human impact on our coastal waters, which has made the Gulf of Maine one of the cleanest, healthiest marine ecosystems in the world for scientists to study. At the same time, that ecosystem also is a working environment, supporting a $770 million fishing industry that employs 25,000 people in Maine. And with growing global demand for fish protein, it's becoming more important for scientists and fishermen to work together to ensure that both the industry and the ecosystem survive.

"We have the confluence of oceanography, light population and a fishery ecosystem that is one of the 10 to 12 most extraordinary fisheries the world," says Perkins. "Maine should be an international center for marine research and education. It absolutely should."

Since joining GMRI in 1995, Perkins, 47, has been working to realize that goal, using GMRI as a catalyst. Rather than performing general oceanographic or fisheries studies, work done at GMRI specifically will target the Gulf of Maine and its species. The facility also will emphasize collaborative research among Maine's existing marine science centers, such as the University of Maine's School of Marine Sciences, as well as between scientists and the fishing community. Fishermen already have participated in fish tagging projects, population surveys and fishing bycatch tests.

GMRI can foster such collaboration because the organization is a neutral scientific platform ˆ— not an advocacy group for environmental issues or the fishing industry. GMRI's additional mission is to broaden Mainers' understanding and appreciation of the Gulf of Maine through educational programs, particularly those aimed at elementary school students. Those programs, says Perkins, are intended to help develop the next generation of marine scientists, but also to generate support for the notion of sustainable use of Maine's marine resources. "In order to support good public policy you have to have a public that's knowledgeable," says Perkins.

Perkins' background is uncannily in tune with GMRI's multifaceted mission. He's worked in education, founding a small school to teach English in the slums of Rio de Janeiro and later working for the Hurricane Island Outward Bound School. But he's also a strategy-oriented businessman with an MBA from Stanford, who has both launched startups and helped run science-based businesses such as Portland biotech company Binax. What had been missing from his career before joining GMRI, he says, was a way to incorporate his passion for the ocean. A lifelong sailor, Perkins founded Friends of Casco Bay in the 1980s, and even fished commercially for swordfish one summer, calling it the hardest job he's ever had.

Since stepping in as GMRI's president, Perkins has delivered momentum to a concept first envisioned by a group of scientists in 1968. He's overseen a fundraising push that raised nearly $14 million and led to the groundbreaking last year for GMRI's new facility on the Portland waterfront. With the building set to open in December, Perkins is assembling a staff that includes world-renowned scientists such as Chief Science Officer John Annala, formerly the chief scientist of the New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries.

GMRI's research also is accelerating. It launched its first program, a survey of herring spawning stock, in 1998, and now has about 17 projects underway. To underscore the importance of those studies, Perkins compares Maine's need for marine research to a company's investment in R&D ˆ— and notes that if the state and the fishing industry were to spend even five percent of its fishing revenues on marine research, the investment would approach $35 million a year. Currently, though, Perkins estimates the state of Maine and its various research organizations spend less than $10 million. "One could argue that if [Maine] were a private corporation with this asset [the Gulf of Maine], we'd be investing in research to make it more productive, and we're not spending that much money," says Perkins.

To make the most of that asset, Perkins also is chairing the newly formed Maine Marine Research Coalition, which comprises Maine's 19 existing marine research organizations. The organization's goal is to create a virtual network of marine science facilities that can attract the best scientists as well as corporate, government and nonprofit research grants.

The goal is not just to use science to support Maine's traditional marine industries, but to make marine science itself one of Maine's strongest economic clusters. And in doing so, Perkins hopes to create yet another new perspective on the value of Maine's 3,500-mile coastline. "In the next 10 or 15 years, I think you're going to see a 21st century working waterfront," says Perkins, "one that combines the best of the traditional harvesting industry with a new, creative fusion of biology and technology."

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