Gulf of Maine

Gulf of Maine
French: Golfe du Maine
Gulf of Maine
Gulf of Maine
Major features of the Gulf of Maine
Location	Northeast coast of the United States and southeast coast of Canada
Coordinates	43°N 68°W / 43°N 68°W / 43; -68
Type	Gulf
Part of	North Atlantic Ocean
River sources	Saint John River, Penobscot River
Catchment area	69,000 square miles (180,000 km2)
Basin countries	Canada and the United States
Surface area	36,000 square miles (93,000 km2)
Islands	Mount Desert Island, Fox Islands (North Haven and Vinalhaven), Isle au Haut, Grand Manan
Settlements	Boston, Portsmouth, Portland, Saint John

The Gulf of Maine is a large gulf of the Atlantic Ocean on the east coast of North America. It is bounded by Cape Cod at the eastern tip of Massachusetts in the southwest and by Cape Sable Island at the southern tip of Nova Scotia in the northeast. The gulf includes the entire coastlines of the U.S. states of New Hampshire and Maine, as well as Massachusetts north of Cape Cod, and the southern and western coastlines of the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, respectively.^[1]

The gulf was named for the adjoining English colonial Province of Maine, which was in turn likely named by early explorers after the province of Maine in France.^[2] Massachusetts Bay, Penobscot Bay, Passamaquoddy Bay, and the Bay of Fundy are all arms of the Gulf of Maine.