Press Releases FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE DATE: September 19, 2007 CONTACT: Ted Diers, NHDES Coastal Program, 603 559-0027 Karin Hansen, Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, 804 739-4419

Gulf of Maine Council Presents Visionaries Awards

Salem, N.H. - Awards acknowledging the work of two nonprofit organizations were presented this morning by the Governor and Executive Council at their September 19, 2007 meeting, hosted by Councilor Beverly Hollingworth at Salem High School in Salem. The recognition comes from the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment, a regional partnership working to preserve and protect coastal and ocean health in the Gulf of Maine.

“Recognizing the contribution of these visionaries is a celebration of both their amazing work and their passion to improve the coastal and ocean environment,” said Ted Diers, Gulf of Maine Council Working Group member and NHDES Coastal Program manager.

The Gulf of Maine Visionary Awards is made annually by the Gulf of Maine Council to recognize innovation, creativity and commitment to marine protection by businesses, environmental organizations, or individuals who are making a difference in the health of the Gulf of Maine. The Council makes an award within each of the five Gulf of Maine jurisdictions: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia.

This year’s New Hampshire visionaries:

• Jen Kennedy and Dianna Schulte, co-founders of the Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation, are acknowledged for their commitment to ocean health and education through school and group presentations, presentations aboard local whale watch and sightseeing boats, tide pool excursions and beach cleanups. Blue Ocean even has an inflatable 50-foot fin whale that they bring into classrooms so students can walk through and get a real idea of the size of one of the animals that live right here in New Hampshire.
  
  
• The Great Bay Stewards are acknowledged for their dedication to the long-term protection of Great Bay by supporting education, research and lasting stewardship of the estuary, including land protection, fundraising events that support education at the Great Bay Discovery Center in Stratham, and establishing an undergraduate research program to fund University of New Hampshire students working on projects related to the estuary.

The Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment is a U.S.-Canadian partnership of government and non-government organizations working to maintain and enhance environmental quality in the Gulf of Maine to allow for sustainable resource use by existing and future generations. The governors and premiers of the five Gulf jurisdictions - Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maine, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia - created the Council in 1989 as a regional forum to exchange information and engage in long-term planning.

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