The future of New England’s only national marine sanctuary is up in the air, and Mainers will have their chance to weigh in during a meeting in Portland Thursday.

The Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, a shallow plateau just north from the tip of Cape Cod, includes some of the most productive waters in the Gulf of Maine and is a gathering place for everything from tiny invertebrates to huge whales. It’s also a busy place for whale-watching cruises, cargo ships and fishing trawlers that operate inside the sanctuary just as they do outside the sanctuary.

Stellwagen managers are now updating its management plan for the first time since Congress created it in 1992. The draft plan doesn’t include immediate restrictions on uses, but could eventually lead to more protections for wildlife, it says.

Conservation groups, including the Conservation Law Foundation, are pushing for more aggressive protections and want Stellwagen to become more of a true sanctuary for wildlife.

Sanctuary managers will hold a public meeting to present the draft plan and gather oral and written comments Thursday from 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. at the University of Southern Maine’s Talbot Lecture Hall in Portland. Public comments will be accepted through the summer and the final plan is scheduled to be done next year.

For locations of other public meetings around New England, or to obtain a copy of the draft management plan, look here.

And look here for the Conservation Law Foundation’s take.

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