Governors’ Group Issues Gulf of Mexico Action Plan
Goals Include Education, Conservation, Water Quality

Josh Clemons

In March the Gulf of Mexico Alliance released the Governors’ Action Plan for Healthy and Resilient Coasts, which charts a course for the Gulf states and the federal government to achieve beneficial outcomes for the Gulf region over the next three years. The Alliance’s goal is to significantly increase regional collaboration, thereby enhancing the environmental and economic health of the Gulf of Mexico.

The Gulf of Mexico Alliance
The Gulf of Mexico Alliance consists of the governors of the five Gulf states (Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas), who banded together in response to the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy’s call for increased regional coordination in ocean management. In its 2004 final report1 the Commission emphasized that the problems and challenges of ocean and coastal management in the 21st century cross jurisdictional boundaries; thus, regional cooperation is more important than ever. The Alliance envisions and encourages participation by other governmental and non-governmental entities, as well as by the Mexican states with whom the U.S. shares the Gulf.

The Action Plan outlines the Alliance’s approach to regional partnership through March 2009. The plan calls for eleven actions to be taken in support of five regional priority issues. Gulf coast citizens helped to identify the priority issues at a series of eight community workshops held across the region.
As one would expect, the Alliance acknowledges the devastation wreaked by Hurricane Katrina and seeks not only to heal the coast but also to make the Gulf region more resilient to the storms that will inevitably occur in the future. Improved resilience should provide both ecological and economic benefits: water quality and coastal ecosystems will be better protected, and industries like fishing and tourism will be able to resume more quickly in the wake of severe storms.

The Action Plan emphasizes the importance of scientific research and education in achieving the Alliance’s goals. Sea Grant is a leader in these areas and can add substantial expertise to the Alliance’s efforts. Education is a particular strength of Sea Grant, and the Alliance recognized this by naming the Sea Grant colleges as contributors and collaborators for the priority issue of environmental education.
Leaders of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium’s education community have been hard at work developing strategies in this area. Dr. Sharon Walker of the University of Southern Mississippi’s Department of Coastal Sciences and Dr. John Dindo of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab have proposed the establishment of an Environmental Education and Outreach Coordinator to focus on the Alliance’s education priorities. The Coordinator will increase professional development programs for informal and formal educators; enhance ocean literacy through improved and increased communications via various media; establish regional networks through existing and new partnerships within the Gulf of Mexico; augment the numbers of underrepresented individuals within the ocean sciences workforce; provide a common ocean sciences education focus within agencies and organizations with similar missions; and evaluate the opportunities, challenges, and outcomes. The Coordinator will contribute to building an enhanced stewardship ethic, strengthening the region’s science literacy, and empowering a new generation of informed leaders who will rebuild the ecosystems and economies of the Gulf Coast.

Regional Priorities and Actions
Below are the five priorities the Alliance has identified to guide its actions. For each priority there is at least one action that the Alliance plans to take.

Priority: Water quality for healthy beaches and shellfish beds.
Actions: Improve harmful algal bloom detection and forecasting in the U.S. and Mexican Gulf states; improve beach water quality management; improve government efficiency in water quality monitoring.

Priority: Wetland and coastal conservation and restoration.
Actions: Streamline coastal restoration and conservation efforts; increase the safety of Gulf communities by better understanding the risks of localized sea level rise, storm surge and subsidence.

Priority: Environmental education.
Actions: Galvanize local communities to protect the Gulf of Mexico through targeted education; conduct a public awareness campaign for the Gulf of Mexico.

Priority: Identification and characterization of Gulf habitats.
Action: Create and provide access to interactive habitat maps for priority Gulf of Mexico habitats.

Priority: Reductions in nutrient inputs to coastal ecosystems.
Actions: Increase regional coordination in the development of nutrient criteria; implement nutrient reduction activities during Gulf recovery and rebuilding; assert an aligned five Gulf State position on the need to address Gulf of Mexico hypoxia.

The Alliance has developed an “Action Blueprint” for each proposed action, which describes more specific steps that will be taken and the outcomes that should be achieved by March 2009. This information is included in the Action Plan and will be of interest to coastal managers working in the priority issue areas, as well as to the coast-dwelling public at large.

The Governors’ Action Plan for Healthy and Resilient Coasts can be viewed and downloaded at http://www.dep.state.fl.us/gulf/files/files/GulfActionPlan_Final.pdf

ENDNOTES
1. Available at http://oceancommission.gov/documents/prepub_report/welcome.html.

University of Mississippi