The Gulf of Mexico Alliance is a partnership of five Gulf States to protect their shared marine ecosystem from further environmental degradation.
The alliance got its start in 2005 through the desire of the governors of Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas to secure greater federal funding to tackle the Gulf’s environmental problems while retaining state control over how that money would be used.
The direct involvement of the governors coaxed institutions from the non-profit and academic sectors to support the alliance. Federal agencies also agreed to work for the alliance without trying to steer its decisions. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration provided critical seed funding and helped streamline the involvement of 13 federal agencies in the work of the alliance.
Each state leads a cross-state team focused on making progress in addressing a specific issue. The alliance focused on completing achievable, concrete tasks in its early days to generate momentum. Its work has improved understanding of ecological problems such as the hypoxia zone, mercury in seafood, and the loss of coastal habitats. It produced two action plans and is beginning to pursue on-the-ground projects and monitor outcomes.
Mission
The Gulf of Mexico Alliance has no formal mission statement. It was formed to increase regional collaboration among the five Gulf States – Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas – to enhance the ecological and economic health of the Gulf of Mexico.
Mexico was not invited to join the alliance at its founding, but the Gulf States expressed their intent to use the alliance as a forum for increasing bi-national cooperation to address the Gulf’s threats.
Objectives
The alliance seeks to enhance the health of the Gulf and its coastlines by addressing six common challenges:
Specific goals and action steps for each issue can be found in two Governors Action Plans developed by the alliance.
Lead Organizations
State
The Gulf of Mexico Alliance is composed of the following state agencies, which serve on the Alliance Management Team:
Federal
The following two federal agencies participate as co-chairs of the Gulf of Mexico Regional Partnership Federal Workgroup:
Key Parties
State
Federal
Other Key Organizations
The Gulf of Mexico Alliance is a voluntary forum for exchanging information about the Gulf and the problems that impact its ecological health, discussing solutions to those problems, and planning coordinated actions.
The governors of the Gulf States are the source of its authority and legitimacy. It makes recommendations that shape the work programs of many research institutions, and informs resource management decisions by the Gulf States as well as federal agencies working in the Gulf region.
Initial Organizational Structure
The alliance began as an assemblage of cross-state, cross-organizational teams, including:
The Gulf of Mexico Regional Partnership Federal Workgroup works side by side with the alliance, stream-lining and coordinating the participation of 13 federal agencies in its work. It is chaired by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration. Its members sit on alliance teams, but do not vote on decisions.
New Organizational Structure
In 2011, the alliance formed a non-profit organization. The organization’s executive director and a small staff will assume responsibility for the administration of the initiative and provide support to its multi-state teams.
In 2004, Jeb Bush, then governor of Florida, pitched the idea of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance to his fellow governors of Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The best way to sustain a strong and economically healthy Gulf Coast was to tackle key environmental problems in a well-coordinated regional initiative, said Bush.
Still, Bush proposed a new initiative with an identity more closely tied to the governors, rather than create an effort to support or expand the existing federal program. Among his motivations were to pursue greater federal resources while maintaining state control over any effort.
Bush believed the Gulf had gone unnoticed by Congress while other large marine ecosystems like Chesapeake Bay and Puget Sound received large federal appropriations. A New national Ocean Plan that recommended greater regional ocean partnerships supported Bush’s proposal as did, undoubtedly, his personal relationship with his brother, then-President George Bush.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Gulf of Mexico Program, which was established in 1988, prepared the ground for the formation of the alliance. It aimed to engage all five Gulf States at the highest levels. It succeeded in getting state agencies to discuss ecosystem-scale issues for the first five. Participation in the program, however, had waned. Bush wanted to establish a regional initiative directed by the states, increasing the likelihood of full participation by senior political leaders in all five states.
Bush’s proposal met with quick support from his fellow governors. The increasing media and public attention to problems like the “dead zone” and the loss of wetlands that protect the Gulf coast from storms made action a political necessity. The governors believed a state-led alliance held promise for securing federal resources.
The Ecosystem
The Gulf of Mexico is a large, shallow sea that extends from the Florida Keys to Corpus Christy, Texas. Its coastline runs along five American states, encompassing more than 47,000 miles.
It is the 9th largest water body in the world, and drains 60 percent of the surface waters in the United States. The Mississippi River watershed alone carries 420 billion gallons a day to the Gulf of Mexico, creating one of the most productive estuaries in the world. Tidal flats, wetlands and marshes, barrier islands, and hard and soft wood forests are among the most common habitats along the Gulf Coast.
Coastal habitats provide refuge and sustenance for nesting waterfowl, water birds, sea turtles, and many kinds of fish and shellfish. Species listed on the Endangered Species Act include sperm whales, certain species of sea turtles, Gulf Sturgeon and smalltooth sawfish.
The Gulf of Mexico’s biological productivity creates economic wealth for local economies and the nation. Its shrimp fishery accounts for 83 percent of all U.S. shrimp landings. It hosts ports and shipping lanes that move billions of dollars of oil, gas and other goods each year. Tourism generated by its beauty and recreational assets sustain 600,000 jobs.
Threats
Many of the stressors that threaten the Gulf’s health result directly or indirectly from population growth and coastal development. Other stressors derive from anthropogenic activities far upstream in the Mississippi and other watersheds. The threats to the Gulf include:
A Targeted Approach
The alliance’s six priority issues provide a framework for defining all of its goals and actions. Its founders believed the fastest way to establish a successful partnership was to clearly define its focus at the start, and leave controversial issues like fisheries management off the table. That way, the new partnership could demonstrate its value to the Gulf States quickly, and avoid getting bogged down in a lengthy process.
Specific Strategies Adopted by the Alliance
Many strategies are detailed in the alliance’s action plans. The five that have received the most attention and resources include:
Integrating Information to Assess Gulf Habitats
Improving Methods for Monitoring Water Quality and Assessing Risks
Developing Common Approaches to Setting Nutrient Criteria
Building a Shared Approach to Environmental Education
Exploring a More Ecosystem Based Approach to Restoration
Ecosystem Assessment: One Issue at a Time
The alliance has not attempted a single, holistic assessment of ecosystem conditions and trends. The Priority Issue Teams have individually sought to assess ecosystem health in relation to specific issues, such as habitat degradation or water quality. For example, the alliance developed a research framework to understand the impact of mercury as it moves through the ecosystem. Efforts are underway to standardize and harmonize collection methods of water quality and habitat data to improve the assessment of the ecosystem.
Future Plans for Monitoring and Evaluation
The alliance is relatively new. A comprehensive effort to define and evaluate metrics of ecosystem health has not been conducted yet. However, the Ecosystem Integration and Assessment Team proposed developing a metric-based “dashboard” to help policy makers track the health of the Gulf.
Alliance leaders are proud of having achieved a strong foundation for long-term regional collaboration. Among their accomplishments are:
Full Participation by State Leaders
All five Governors are still committed. All five Gulf States dedicate high level agency staff to the effort, and many program managers and scientists. The mantle of leadership successfully passed from Florida Governor Jeb Bush to Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour.
New Information and Understanding
Agencies and organizations are working together to define the most important scientific questions about the ecosystem. They are coordinating scientific work programs to answer those questions comprehensively and efficiently.
To provide guidance and tools for state agencies, the alliance has produced:
A Platform for Winning Resources
The Gulf States are coordinating lobbying for federal appropriations for the first time. They are networking with other regional ocean partnerships to jointly approach Congress for funding. The alliance has positioned itself to distribute funding for ecosystem recovery efforts in the wake of the Deepwater Horizon rig oil spill in 2011.
Fostering Bi-National Cooperation
The alliance is coordinating with the six Mexican Gulf States to monitor and detect Harmful Algal Blooms, conduct environmental education, and take other actions to protect the Gulf.
The Gulf of Mexico Alliance was facilitated by the following factors:
State Government Factors
Federal Agency Factors
The Gulf of Mexico Alliance has encountered the following challenges:
People involved with the Gulf of Mexico Alliance have learned the following lessons:
The Gulf of Mexico Alliance website: http://www.gulfofmexicoalliance.org/index.php
Gulf of Mexico Program (at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency): http://www.epa.gov/gmpo/