The Hurricane Island Field Research Station

The Hurricane Island Field Research Station will further our strategic plan and enable us to fully integrate science education and applied research. Hurricane Island, part of the Fox Islands Archipelago in Penobscot Bay, Maine is approximately 10 miles offshore from Rockland. The 125-acre island is situated at the confluence of the Eastern Maine and Western Maine Coastal Currents and the discharge from the Penobscot River to the north of the island forms a gradient of estuarine and marine habitat. To the southwest, the western Maine coastal current causes water stratification and a zone of upwelling that affects the local ecology, and there is striking diversity in the bedrock geology to the west.

The field station will position us to broaden the impact of our research and increase annual revenue. Hurricane is perfectly positioned to participate in monitoring studies and research on climate change, alterations in the Gulf of Maine ecosystem, and fisheries biology and management.

Benefits of the field station:

• This will be the only offshore field research station in Penobscot Bay.

• Hurricane is perfectly positioned to establish and participate in research on climate change, fisheries biology, fisheries management, alterations in Penobscot Bay, and the wider Gulf of Maine ecosystem.

• Our research team and higher education students will have dedicated space and improved infrastructure to conduct their work.

• This will welcome students to a learning community in which leadership is inclusive and science-informed.