Face to Watch

There are a lot of reasons to visitthe beautiful waterfront in Portland,Maine, and if Don Perkins "78 has his way, there will soon be an-other: an aquarium and marine researchcenter. Perkins, a Portlandnative, was in the biotech businessuntil 1995, when he turned his volunteermarine conservation workinto a career as the president ofthe Gulf of Maine ResearchInstitute (GMRI). The GMRIsecured 5.5 acres of Portlandwaterfront, and construction beganlast summer. While the planned$42 million aquarium isn't expectedto open until 2009, GMRI hasalmost a dozen research projectsalready underway, includingstudies of lobsters' diets and herringacoustics. The scientific datahelps government regulators andfishermen—two groups often inconflict—determine how to use,but not deplete, our marineresources. "Survival of Maine'sremarkable coastal fishing communitiesis important to me as alocal boy," says Perkins, "and Ithink we have a chance to developan institution that has internationalsignificance."