The Gulf of Mexico Region hosts an amazing array of natural treasures – great coral reefs, lagoons, vast meadows of sea grass, and more than half the nation’s coastal wetlands. If you enjoy seafood, you’ve probably tasted some of the Gulf’s bounty. More than 1.3 billion pounds of seafood come out of the Gulf each year, out-producing the south and mid-Atlantic, the Chesapeake Bay, and New England, combined, in harvests of finfish, shrimp and shellfish. More than 50 percent of all recreational fishing in the U.S. happens along and on the Gulf’s waters.
The Gulf of Mexico Initiative (GoMI) is designed to help producers in Alabama, Florida, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas improve water quality and ensure sustainable production of food and fiber.
GoMI will deliver up to $50 million in financial and easement assistance over 3 years in 16 priority watersheds. Assistance will help producers apply sustainable agricultural and wildlife habitat management systems that maintain agricultural productivity; avoid, control, and trap nutrient runoff; and reduce sediment transport. GoMI also will reduce current over-use of water resources and prevent saltwater from entering the habitats of many threatened and endangered species.
NRCS programs supporting GoMI are the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, Wildlife Habitat Incentive Program, Conservation Stewardship Program, Wetlands Reserve Program, Grassland Reserve Program, and Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program.
Gulf of Mexico Videos
NEW VIDEO: NRCS helps Alabama farmers implement best management practices to increase production and reduce polluted runoff.
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