The Gulf of Maine, a unique ‘sea within a sea’ up to 1,500 feet deep, is sometimes called “New England’s own ocean.” It occupies about as much space in the water as the State of Maine does on land. The gulf, however, extends way beyond Maine — its watershed of about 70,000 square miles also includes areas in Massachusetts, New Brunswick, New Hampshire, Nova Scotia, and a small part of Quebec. It stretches from Cape Cod to Nova Scotia’s Cape Sable Island, and includes the Bay of Fundy, home to the highest tides (30 to 50 feet) in the world.
The Gulf of Maine Area program at the University of Southern Maine describes the gulf by saying that, in contrast to “the gently sloping, low-lying lands laced with tidal rivers, marshes and bays” of America’s east coast from Florida to New York, this “steeper New England and maritime Canada coast is characterized by rocky shorelines, hundreds of harbors, and thousands of islands made of ledge, or upturned bedrock.” The Gulf of Maine is influenced by the Labrador Current instead of the Gulf Stream, making its water much colder and more full of nutrients than the U.S. southern Atlantic coast.