Cashes Ledge, a remote underwater mountain range about 80 miles off the Maine coast, is renowned for its extraordinary marine life. Later this month, the public will have a rare chance to see it up close.
Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company and naturalist Zack Klyver’s Flukes International Whale Tours will lead a 12-hour research cruise to the ledge on Aug. 23, giving participants a look at one of the most biologically rich places in the Gulf of Maine.
The ledge’s productivity comes from its geology. Its peaks rise from deep waters of 700 to 800 feet, creating powerful upwellings that push nutrients toward the surface.
Ammen Rock, the highest point, lies just 27 feet below the surface and supports dense kelp forests teeming with fish, from red cod to schools of herring and mackerel. Those species, in turn, draw tuna, sharks, seabirds and marine mammals.
This summer’s cruise comes as momentum builds to permanently protect the area. In July 2024, the Conservation Law Foundation nominated Cashes Ledge for designation as a National Marine Sanctuary, a status that would bar industrial development and large-scale commercial fishing but allow lobster fishing to continue.
Climate researchers are also watching the ledge closely. In June, Brown University biologist Jon Witman led a long-term monitoring dive and reported that while kelp numbers had dipped slightly, the forest’s overall mass and volume had increased – a sign, he said, of “sustained productivity.”
Klyver said the trip will double as a research expedition, with marine mammal scientists from Allied Whale and bird experts from Maine Audubon and Bar Harbor Whale Watch documenting sightings. October 2023’s voyage to Cashes recorded eight marine mammal species, 51 seabird species and even a mother and calf right whale pair.
The Cashes Ledge Whale and Seabird tour departs at 7:30 a.m. Aug. 23 from Bar Harbor. Tickets are available through Bar Harbor Whale Watch Company.
