Cooperative Efforts with Gulf of Mexico Alliance

1. Cooperative Efforts withGulf of Mexico Alliance • New Web Site • http://www.gulfofmexicoalliance.org/welcome.html • First Annual Monitoring Forum • Priority Issue Teams (PITs)

2. First Annual Monitoring Forum • Held in St. Petersburg, FL, 3-5 June 2008 • Fulfills an Action Item of the Water Quality PIT • Exchange information on state monitoring activities • Coastal/estuarine monitoring: coordinate routine water quality monitoring to address broad array of management questions • Nutrient studies: monitoring to understand nutrient fate & transport & to develop appropriate nutrient criteria for state waters • Data sampling and analysis methodology comparability • Jochens gave invited talk on GCOOS • what GCOOS is • Data and products • GCOOS-GOMA collaborations

3. First Annual Monitoring Forum • Plenary • Nutrient-related water quality monitoring initiatives • Break-out Sessions • Harmful Algal Bloom • Microbial Source Tracking • Coastal/Estuarine Monitoring • Nutrient Study Design Workshop II • http://www2.nos.noaa.gov/gomex/waterquality/monitor_2008/welcome.html

4. Nutrient Study Design:White Paper Components • Nutrient pathways (fluxes, transport, sinks) • Candidate ecological endpoints • Phytoplankton, HABs • Net Ecosystem Metabolism • Submerged Aquatic Vegetation • Macrobenthos, Fin- & Shell-Fisheries • Hypoxia • Core physical and chemical monitoring • Modeling: define monitoring that adequately feeds modeling

5. Workshop Focus: Endpoint relationship to pathway measurements

6. Endpoint: Phytoplankton/HABsIndicator: Chlorophyll a

7. Endpoint: Hypoxia Indicator: DO

8. Governors’ Action Plan II • Action Plan I: March 2006 through March 2009 • Five year time horizon: 2009-2013 • Priority Issue Teams • Managing Nutrient Inputs & Reducing Impacts • Water Quality • Ecosystem Integration and Assessment (replaces Habitat Identification and Characterization PIT) • Habitat Conservation & Restoration • Environmental Education • Coastal Community Resilience (new) • 19-21 August 2008 PITs meeting to finalize recommended Action Plans

9. Draft Issues: Managing Nutrient Inputs & Reducing Impacts • Characterization of Nutrients and Nutrient Impacts to Coastal Ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico (9 Action Steps) • Support and Coordinate State Needs for the Development of Nutrient Criteria for Gulf of Mexico Coastal Waters and Estuaries (5 Action Steps) • Reduce Excess Nitrogen and Phosphorus Inputs to Gulf of Mexico Coastal Waters and Estuaries (4 Action Steps) • Increase Regional Coordination to Reduce Hypoxia in Gulf of Mexico Coastal Waters and Estuaries (6 Action Steps)

10. Draft Issues: Water Quality • Harmful Algal Blooms (HABs) (7 Action Steps) • Improve harmful algal bloom detection and forecasting in the U.S. and Mexican States surrounding the Gulf of Mexico and provide information necessary for coastal managers to distribute warnings in a timely manner. • Reduce the human and environmental impacts of harmful algal blooms through increased understanding of harmful algal bloom organisms and their impacts • Reduce the human and environmental impacts of harmful algal blooms through development and implementation of effective prevention, control and mitigation methods and efforts • Pathogens (4 Action Steps) • Protect human health by improving coastal water-quality management • Monitoring and Other Water Quality (9 Action Steps) • To provide information about coastal water-resource status and trends that support informed management decisions. • Mercury and Other Contaminants (7 Action Steps) • Better our understanding of mercury and other contaminants in the environment, their potential risks to human health and the ecosystem and to distribute that information to the appropriate groups. • Identify the major sources of mercury ending up in Gulf of Mexico seafood.

11. Draft Issues: Ecosystem Integration and Assessment • Enhance and broaden the Priority Habitat and Information System to provide public access and delivery of current and historic local, state and federal Gulf of Mexico environmental data (14 Action Steps) • Develop a Gulf of Mexico Ocean and Coastal Mapping and Monitoring Master Plan (5 Action Steps) • Finalize and implement the Coastal and Marine Ecological Classification Standard (CMECS) (8 Action Steps) • Determine the Value of Ecological and Socioeconomic Services within the Gulf of Mexico (4 Action Steps) • Produce an Emergent Wetlands Status and Trends Report and Geospatial Data Set (7 Action Steps) • International Data Access (2 Action Steps)

12. Draft Issues: Environmental Education • Galvanize local communities to protect the Gulf of Mexico through education programs and projects (4 Action Steps) • Conduct public awareness activities for the Gulf of Mexico (3 Action Steps) • Galvanize the K-20 community to elevate environmental literacy for the purpose of creating a future informed citizenry that engages in action for the health and welfare of the Gulf and connected ecosystems (6 Action Steps) • Utilize economic value for the Gulf in targeted environmental communications (3 Action Steps)

13. Draft Issues: Coastal Community Resilience • Increase understanding of risks associated with living, working, and doing business, plus the planning framework that stimulates development along the Gulf of Mexico, so that coastal residents can plan strong and resilient communities and businesses (5 Action Steps) • Increase the sharing of resilience-related information across States, sectors (public, private, non-profit, academia), and individual communities (4 Action Steps) • Enable coastal communities to choose locally appropriate paths to resilience and sustainability through a variety of outreach and engagement tools (5 Action Steps)

14. Draft Issues: Habitat Conservation and Restoration • Continue development of the partnership structure of the HCRT to include local, state, federal, and tribal governments, non-governmental organizations (NGO), business and industry, landowners, and other vested stakeholders of the United States, Mexico, Cuba, and Caribbean territories (4 Action Steps) • Address specific issues regarding habitat conservation and restoration, including those identified during Phase I of the GOMA HCRT effort by conducting topical working sessions. The purpose is to further define the status and qualitative and quantitative need for habitat conservation and restoration within the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea ecosystems, describe obstacles to conservation and restoration, and develop strategies to overcome these obstacles in order to advance conservation and restoration from planning to field application (10 Action Steps) • Continue to develop, facilitate and assess the implementation of the Gulf Regional Sediment Management Master Plan (GRSMMP) to provide for more effective use of dredged material and other sediment resources for habitat conservation and restoration. Such a plan shall provide guidelines for more effective management of sediment resources, recognizing they are a part of a regional system involving natural processes and dredging activities (8 Action Steps) • Encourage and facilitate public-private partnerships to support habitat restoration and conservation efforts (6 Action Steps) • Support policy and economic incentives that promote stewardship, conservation and restoration efforts on private lands (3 Action Steps) • Collaborate and coordinate efforts with other Priority Issue Teams to minimize duplication of effort and maximize input on issues as comprehensively as possible. (3 Action Steps)