The Harbor Theater will offer a free screening of the documentary "Lobster War" on Saturday, March 2 at 2 p.m., accompanied by a Q&A session with Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences researcher Nick Record. 

The Gulf of Maine is changing quickly. Long-term monitoring reveals that, over the last century, the Gulf of Maine has warmed, become more acidic, and even turned more yellow. These chemical and physical changes are influencing the entire Gulf of Maine food web, including an economic and cultural giant: the Maine lobster.

“The warmer future has arrived early off our coast,” said Record. “And that’s changing the Gulf of Maine as we know it.”

Since the end of the Revolutionary War, the United States and Canada have disputed 277 square miles of ocean in the Bay of Fundy, termed the “gray zone.” As the Gulf of Maine has warmed, the most bountiful lobster fishing has begun to shift north, inspiring Canadian and U.S. lobstermen to battle for control over the lucrative area. 

The documentary film “Lobster War” was produced by The Boston Globe to explore this climate-fueled conflict. The award-winning documentary was directed by David Abel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter at The Boston Globe, and Andy Laub, an acclaimed documentarian. 

Record is a senior research scientist at Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences, and an ecologist and modeler who studies the complex Gulf of Maine ecosystem. His work has highlighted how animal populations are responding to a changing Gulf of Maine, from the zooplankton at the base of the food web to endangered North Atlantic right whales at the top.

“I bring together lots of wide-ranging data sets from across the Gulf of Maine to figure out the big picture,” said Record. “What we discover here in Maine will help others around the world adapt to rapidly changing oceans.”

Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences is an independent, nonprofit research institute on the coast of Maine. Learn more at bigelow.org.

The free screening at the Harbor Theater, at 185 Townsend Ave., in Boothbay Harbor,  will be preceded by complimentary refreshments at 1:30 p.m., before Record introduces the film. Learn more about this event at boothbaycinema.org.