Building Partnerships

for a Healthier Gulf

April 2023

News

GOMA requests proposals for four upcoming projects

GOMA's Data & Monitoring Team, Habitat Resources Team, and Marine Debris Cross-Team are requesting proposals for four upcoming projects:

analysis of water quality parameters
oyster habitat status and trends in Louisiana and Texas
economic benefits of dredged sediment projects
outreach videos for crab trap loss prevention

These projects are funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as part of an award to GOMA supporting regional ocean partnerships.

View RFPs and Application

GOMA to receive NOAA funding for marine debris removal

Over the next four years, GOMA will receive $7.7 million to administer a regional competitive grant program for large marine debris removal across the five Gulf states. The project will also remove previously identified abandoned and derelict vessels in Texas, Mississippi, and Alabama. This project is funded through the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law as part of NOAA's Climate-Ready Coasts initiative.

Read NOAA's Press Release

All Hands plenary set to focus on water needs and bi-national collaboration

As part of our dynamic week of events at this year's All Hands, we are excited to announce speakers for our opening plenary on Tuesday, June 27th. The plenary will include a panel discussion on Texas water needs with:

Loreal Stepney, Texas Water Development Board
Stephen Tatum, Tarrant Regional Water District
Robert Mace, Meadows Center for Water and the Environment

Porfirio Alvarez, Executive Secretary, Consortium of Marine Research Institutes of the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean, will also join us to talk about reinvigorating partnerships with Mexico.

Welcome new Gulf Star partners

We are excited to announce that two new Gulf Star partners have joined us: the Gulf Research Program of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) and the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI).

The NASEM Gulf Research Program's funding will support a youth ambassador program and GoMRI's funding will support status and trends analysis for priority Gulf habitats.

Learn more and read our Gulf Star report

GOMA-supported living shorelines project continues to benefit local community

A living shoreline project funded by GOMA in 2020 continues to be successful, even with a direct impact from Hurricane Ida.

The Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana (CRCL), Pointe-Au-Chien Tribe, and community volunteers built the living shoreline using 200 tons of recycled oyster shells. It protects a site that is culturally significant to the tribe while also creating habitat for oysters and other wildlife.

CRCL continues to monitor the success of the project and plans to install a second reef in partnership with the Tribe this fall.

Hotel Block

Be sure to book your hotel room by the May 15th deadline! We have secured a discounted group rate of $229/night and a government rate of $161/night, but space is limited and the blocks are filling fast.

The AT&T Hotel and Conference Center still has Group Rate rooms available, and the nearby Marriott AC Hotel Austin has Government Rate rooms available.

Book a room

Registration

Register today for the June 26-29, 2023, GOMA All Hands Meeting in Austin, Texas, at the AT&T Hotel and Conference Center.

Join us as we bring together partners from across the region to plan projects that implement Governors’ Action Plan IV.

Online registration is $175 with a deadline of Thursday, June 22.

Professional Development

As part of the All Hands Meeting, we are offering professional development workshops on Building Engagement, Effective Communication, and Making Diversity Work.

The workshops are presented by the prestigious University of Texas McCombs School of Business and are free but you must be registered for the All Hands Meeting to participate. CEUs are available.

These workshops are supported by a sponsorship from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine Gulf Research Program.

Tool of the Month

The AWI-MAPP

As we head into April to explore Get into Being Prepared for our #GetintotheGulf social media campaign, we thought it would be a good time to talk about the Alabama Water Institute and Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium AWI-MAPP app.

This app allows users to instantly access information about weather, tides, buoy stations, water safety and fishing regulations based on their location in the Gulf of Mexico.

Check Out This Tool

Partner News

MS/AL Sea Grant Consortium supported study analyzes homeowner cost-benefit of FORTIFIED building

The study focused on which levels of FORTIFIED building have been used along the Mississippi and Alabama Gulf Coasts and how that has impacted property values. Learn more.

NOAA NCCOS explains tracking fish movements to understand habitat connectivity in the Gulf

NOAA's National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science recently released a video explaining their work tracking fish movements in the Flower Garden Banks National Marine Sanctuary in an effort to better understand habitat connectivity in the Gulf of Mexico. Learn more.

Gulf Hypoxia Program awards grants to states

The Gulf Hypoxia Program's awards will support stakeholder outreach, conservation implementation and analyses, modeling, monitoring, and more across 12 states. The awards total $60 million in funding over five years.

NOAA releases Hurricane Ian report

Learn more about this category 4 storm that impacted southwest Florida in 2022. Learn more.

Red tide rack card in Spanish, Creole, French, German, Vietnamese, and Tagalog

Looking for ways to communicate red tide information in a variety of languages? The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Research Institute has rack cards in 7 different languages available. Learn more.