As a biologist I have spent most of my professional career in and around the Gulf of Mexico. We have often been referred to as the “third coast” or even the “forgotten coast.” The latter can really rub me the wrong way. I recall once when I was in Washington D.C. trying to persuade a certain federal agency to fund something or other, and I was pressing the issue more forcefully than I probably should have done. As I caught my breath the agency representative blurted out, “I don’t see why we should fund something like this in the Gulf. It’s gone already, nothing but oil and gas platforms and pipelines all over the place.” I was too stunned to have a ready response and I do not recall much about the rest of the meeting. It just kept going through my head, had he ever been in the Gulf of Mexico? Certainly, not the parts I have seen.

Unfortunately, that is not an uncommon perception among those that do not know better. Whether contrived to keep attention and funding focused on the other coasts, as I often think is the case, even without much factual foundation, or just the result of population distributions disproportionately located on the East Coast and West Coast, the effect is the same. We get forgotten down here in the Gulf. That is unfortunate because we have so much at stake here, both for the ecological and the economic health of our nation.

The Gulf of Mexico is a large marine ecosystem. Its future depends on our ability to act on a similar scale. Effective action demands we understand ecosystem function and interactions on that same scale. We are not today capable of doing so, nor do we have the knowledge base to support a decision-making process that might do so. The encouraging news is that this concern is broadly recognized and, around the Gulf, efforts are underway to address this concern. This is one area where the Gulf of Mexico is an acknowledged leader. The Gulf of Mexico Alliance, a collaboration of all the Gulf states, including the United States and Mexico, are working towards the goal of developing that governance process. Business interests, nongovernmental organizations and interested citizens are part of the Alliance as well. The Alliance is a vehicle that brings all these interests together to address the many environmental challenges we face here in the Gulf of Mexico.

The Alliance is not the only effort to bring us together. This winter the second “Gulf Summit” will be held in Veracruz, Mexico,  February 3-5. The first summit was initiated by HRI, with the goal of establishing an ongoing assessment of the ecological and economic health of the Gulf of Mexico. Read more about the 2006 State of the Gulf of Mexico biennial symposium. I want to thank Governor Fidel Herrera for his commitment and support to make the second summit a reality. It is especially significant that it will be held in Veracruz. As Governor of the State of Veracruz, Fidel Herrera is clearly committed to a healthy and productive Gulf of Mexico. We can only hope that his counterparts in both Mexico and the United States share his enthusiasm and commitment. The Harte Research Institute will be doing all we can to make it a success. I hope to report back to you on a successful summit in the next newsletter.
                                                                            - Larry McKinney, Executive Director