The following six issues are the focus of dozens of scientists, policy makers, educators, citizens and volunteers working across the region to improve the health of the Gulf of Mexico.

Measuring & Protecting Water Quality	Conserving & Restoring Habitats	Supporting Environmental Education
Identifying & Mapping Ecosystems	Reducing Nutrient Pollution	Building Community Resilience

Gulf of Mexico Alliance Priority Issues...

"The Gulf of Mexico Alliance is working in Florida, and throughout the Gulf, on six issue areas including concrete projects, designed to deliver significant on-the-ground results over the next five years. These issues were identified using input from Gulf citizens, paired with specific state and federal agency commitments."

The Research Board of the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative is seeking proposals to select research activities focused on effects of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The Gulf Research Initiative is an independent scientific research program created to investigate the impacts of the oil spilled, dispersed oil, and dispersant on the ecosystems of the Gulf of Mexico and affected coastal States. Learn more about the Gulf Research Initiative at http://www.gulfresearchinitiative.org/

The Gulf Coast Ecosystem Restoration Task Force was established through Executive Order and will work to define ecosystem restoration goals, coordinate government policies and identify monitoring, assessment, research and restoration needs.

To gather information and community input, the Task Force is holding public meetings in each Gulf State.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, is one of 13 federal partners working with the five U.S. Gulf of Mexico states on accomplishing the goals of the Gulf of Mexico Alliance. See NOAA's Next Generation Strategic Plan to learn about the federal government's goal of creating resilient ecosystems, communities and economies.

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The Gulf Alliance recognizes that citizen input is critical for identifying priority issues and affecting meaningful change on a local level. It is at this local level that the effects of a healthy Gulf are most clearly realized in day-to-day life. In fact, the six Priority Issues listed above were chosen during a series of Community Input Workshops held around the Gulf Coast.

Below is an overview of the Initial Gulf Alliance Community Input Workshops, held around the Gulf Coast in 2005-2006. For more information on the second round of Community Input Workshops, designed to gather feedback on the Draft Governors' Action Plan II in 2008-2009, click here.

Participants in Galveston, Texas (shown) agreed with citizens in Apalachicola and Naples, Florida in voting water quality as the second most important issue facing their community.

Goals of the 2005
Community Input Workshops:

• Gain local perspectives on priority issues
• Identify successful programs and partnerships
• Build better relationships between local, state and federal entities, and,
• Build public awareness about the importance of a healthy Gulf of Mexico to local communities, the Gulf region and the Nation.