Opportunities for Trinational Governance of Ecologically Connected Habitat Sites in the Gulf of Mexico

Abstract

Biological connections throughout the Gulf of Mexico region pervade waters of the United States, Mexico, and Cuba. Identification of important high-biodiversity habitats and the species that utilize such uncommon habitats in the Gulf of Mexico provides a scientific basis for cooperative international marine conservation and policy. A combination of a compatibility analysis of existing national marine policies and ecosystem-based marine spatial planning would improve management of transboundary living marine resources based on biophysical characteristics of the large marine ecosystem. Goals of such a science-based governance approach are to enhance the understanding of connectivity elements and processes, to map distribution of habitats with high biodiversity, to minimize discontinuity among national marine policies, and to maximize coordinated international protection. The proposed outcome is the design and implementation of an international network of marine protected areas to conserve shared transboundary living marine resources of the Gulf of Mexico. Existing conditions in the Gulf of Mexico region support an enterprise to design several alternatives for an international network of marine protected areas for joint consideration by policy decision-makers from the United States, Mexico, and Cuba. The same model combining science and policy could apply to other transboundary large marine ecosystems.