Articles

• Working Waterfronts
• 10 Questions on the Gulf of Mexico Research Plan
• Mississippi Team Wins Hurricane Bowl
• Lewis and Plutchak Selected as Knauss Fellows
• Josh Clemons Leaves Sea Grant Law Center
• Crozier Retires from DISL, Joins Bellwether Group
• Featured Publication
• Guest Editorial

Sea Briefs is a report on the results of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium.

Editor: Valerie Winn

This newsletter is available in PDF format from:
masgc.org/seabriefs

MASGC supports applied, interdisciplinary marine science research, education and outreach efforts to foster the sustainable development and management of the Mississippi and Alabama coasts and nearshore ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico

Mississippi-Alabama
Sea Grant Consortium
703 East Beach Drive
Ocean Springs, MS 39564
Phone: 228-818-8840
E-mail: seabriefs@masgc.org
MASGP 08-011-01

Guest Editorial

The Gulf of Mexico region is experiencing the power of partnerships – the five U.S. Gulf States are committed to realizing the benefits of shared management successes by developing a common vision and strategy for enhancing the environmental and economic health of the Gulf of Mexico.

The Gulf of Mexico Alliance is a partnership, initiated in 2004, by the states of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas, with the goal of significantly increasing regional collaboration to enhance the environmental and economic health of the Gulf of Mexico. The five U.S. Gulf States identified six initial regionally significant priority issues that could be effectively addressed through increased collaboration at state, local and federal levels:

• water quality for healthy beaches and shellfish beds
• wetland and coastal conservation and restoration
• coastal community resilience
• environmental education
• identification and characterization of Gulf habitats
• reducing nutrient inputs to coastal ecosystems

In the Gulf Alliance regional governance model, state leadership is supported by a group of 13 federal agencies, brought together by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Interior and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This federal workgroup is committed to supporting Gulf States leadership and works to coordinate an integrated federal response to alliance priorities.

The five Gulf state governors put forward 73 specific activities, within the six priority issues outlined above, in their March 2006 Governors’ Action Plan for Healthy and Resilient Coasts. Under the leadership of the five Gulf states, multi-stakeholder priority issue teams develop strategies to advance and coordinate the implementation of these activities. As of January, 16 activities are considered complete and 51 are in progress. All 73 activities are expected to be completed by March 2009, the end of the three-year time frame for the Governors Action Plan.

Building on the success of the first regional plan, the Gulf Alliance plans to expand the breadth and scope of Gulf of Mexico regional collaboration activities. To this end, the Alliance is beginning to work on a second regional collaborating plan, slated for release in the spring of 2009. The Alliance will actively encourage broad participation and input into the planning process this year.

The Alliance will continue to strengthen existing relationships with supporting federal partners and will actively solicit direct involvement from non-governmental organizations, business and industry offering opportunities to develop and execute regional collaborative actions. In addition, the Alliance will continue to pursue regional collaboration opportunities with the six Mexican Gulf States and support the creation of a parallel Mexican Gulf of Mexico Alliance.

The Gulf Alliance represents a large scale state-local-federal partnership. The enthusiasm, willingness to participate and activities accomplished to date have far exceeded original expectations. We’ll know we’ve achieved success when the environmental and economic health of the Gulf of Mexico has been improved and the Gulf Alliance is committed to achieving this success for the residents of the Gulf States and for the nation as a whole.