Why The Gulf of Mexico?

 

HRI is the acronym for the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies. A basic question is – why the Gulf of Mexico? Why did Ed Harte limit the scope of his gift to focus on this body of water?

 


At 615,000 square miles the Gulf of Mexico is the ninth largest body of water in the world. It is bordered by five US states, six Mexican states and the country of Cuba. Over 4,000 miles of coastline forms its northern border and encompasses a diverse array of habitats from coral reefs and hyper-saline lagoons to emergent wetlands and vast seagrass meadows. It is alternately known as The American Mediterranean, America’s Sea, The Energy Coast, and unfortunately, The Forgotten Coast. The Gulf of Mexico is a sea of contrasts, where a healthy environment and a healthy economy both coexist and contend with one another.

 

Why the Gulf of Mexico?


If you drive a car, love air conditioning, use plastic containers or enjoy seafood – the Gulf is important to you.


There are over 4,500 oil and gas platforms and structures dotting the waters of the Gulf and connecting them together is an unimaginable maze of pipelines, funneling their output into the heart of the USA. Over 47% of the refining capacity, 52% of oil production and 54% of the natural gas produced in the USA comes from here. How does it affect you? After Katrina gas prices increased by 18% and jet fuel by 26% because of damage to this infrastructure. What happens in the Gulf and its resiliency, the ability to bounce back from insults like hurricanes, affects us all, and we all have a stake in its health. That health is the key to resiliency.

 

The story is much the same for Mexico, perhaps even more so. Oil and gas revenue is a fundamental underpinning for the economic health of Mexico. Many important social programs benefiting the Mexican people have only been possible because of that revenue. Any disruption or loss of production in offshore waters can have wide-reaching impact.


The Gulf is not only a key to the energy security of the region it is equally important to environmental security of the region. Over 50% of the USA’s continental wetlands, some 5,000,000 acres can be found adjacent to the Gulf.  Some 90% of all seagrass, historically around 2,500,000 acres flank the Gulf. All mangrove habitat (647,000+ acres), primarily occurring in Florida are found in the Gulf.

 

Because 95% of all commercially and recreationally important finfish and shellfish depend on habitat like this for some part of their life cycle, it is easy to understand why the Gulf is as productive as it is. Much of this habitat surrounds the estuaries that ring the Gulf like a string of pearls, and they are pearls of great value. While these estuaries make up only 24% of all USA estuaries by area, they are amazingly productive. The Gulf accounts for 85% of all shrimp harvest, 60% of all oysters and over 50% of recreational fishing pressure in the USA. At over 1.3 billion pounds of annual seafood production the Gulf produces more finfish, shrimp and shellfish than the south and mid-Atlantic, Chesapeake and New England, combined.

Tipping the Balance


The health and resiliency of the large marine ecosystem that is the Gulf of Mexico is the fulcrum upon which economic and environmental benefits rest. It is the fundamental ecosystem service that the Gulf provides to the region. What is surprising is that it continues to maintain this balance in the face of what would appear to be overwhelming tipping forces.


Over 41% of continental North America drains into the Gulf of Mexico by way of the Mississippi River system. Basically anything that happens in the heartland of the USA that can make it to a creek, stream or river flows to the Gulf. One much publicized result of this has been the regular formation of a hypoxic, or dead zone, at the mouth of the Mississippi River. It is no small phenomenon and can reach as much as 7,000 square miles, about the size of the state of Massachusetts. Within the dead zone fish, shrimp and shellfish cannot survive and must either move or die. The cause is nutrient over-enrichment and much of that comes from agricultural fertilization lost to runoff, etc. Any expansion of the zone threatens the entire upper coast of Texas from Sabine Lake to Matagorda Bay.

 

It is not only agricultural runoff that impacts the Gulf. Industrial based discharges are significant because of so much concentration of the chemical industry around the Gulf. As noted earlier, if you use anything plastic it is likely that was possible because of these industries, but that comes at a high processing cost for the Gulf ecosystem. The Gulf coast states of Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama make up four of the five top states for the greatest surface water discharge of toxic chemicals in the USA. Cities do not escape their share of impact. Up to 30% of Gulf coastal waters are closed to shellfish harvest because pollution from wastewater discharges, primarily from municipal water treatment plants and non-point discharge from urban areas.

 

That the Gulf can maintain its current health and productivity in the face of these challenges is no less amazing because of the status of its most fundamental infrastructure – its diversity of habitat. The Gulf has seen the loss of over 50% of its wetlands because of subsidence, channelization and development. Anywhere from 12% to 66% of seagrass has disappeared and in some areas as much as 90% has been lost. About 4% of mangrove habitat has been lost but in some areas as much as 86% has disappeared to development and channelization.

 

Economic and Environmental Sustainability


Despite these ongoing challenges the Gulf ecosystem has been resilient enough to keep its balance and demonstrate that, in fact, there can be a balance between these otherwise at odds forces. The Gulf of Mexico is a demonstration that economic and environmental sustainability is possible.

 

The Flower Gardens National Marine Sanctuary is surrounded by oil and gas production platforms. Yet, it is not only the northernmost coral reef in North America, it is the healthiest. At more than 50% coverage of living coral it outshines all others in the Gulf, including Florida, as well as the Caribbean. The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary includes some the most diverse assemblages of terrestrial, estuarine and marine flora and fauna in North America and is one of the most  complex ecosystems in  the world, despite having some 3,000,000 visitors annually enjoying diving, boating, fishing and exploring its 3,800 square miles. The wetlands of Louisiana (40% of USA total) remain some of the most productive in the world despite an annual and ongoing loss of 35 square miles a year (a football field every 20 minutes), accounting for 90% of such losses in the lower 48 states.

 

The Gulf of Mexico is a dynamic mix of economic and environmental productivity with a future that challenges the sustainability of that balance. Meeting that challenge is critical to the energy security, the health and well being – the environmental security – of our bordering countries. There are significant challenges to maintaining the balance we now enjoy. Population, particularly in coastal areas is projected to grow into the foreseeable future. Associated economic development continues to erode the foundations of ecosystem health and function. The resiliency, upon which ecosystem health and function has drawn to balance the impacts of economic development, is tested by climate change. Sea level rise, a significant issue for the low lying gulf coast, and ocean acidification are critical tipping forces with which to contend.

HRI’s Vision and Mission


The Gulf of Mexico can be a laboratory to find that balance between economic and environmental health, a sustainable balance that benefits both us and future generations. That is why HRI is focused on the Gulf of Mexico. Its fate affects us all. Understanding the fundamental issues of ecosystem health and resiliency; bringing that science to bear on the resource management challenges facing the Gulf; and developing the policy and governance frameworks to implement and sustain that balance is a worthy goal. The solutions found here can be applied around the world, to the benefit of us all. For the Harte Research Institute…that’s enough to keep us busy!