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Gulf of Mexico Shellfish Challenge
The Gulf of Mexico is the top shellfish-producing region in the nation.
In 1994, over 27 million pounds of oysters were landed from Gulf
waters with a value of about $96 million (National Marine Fisheries
Service, 1995). However, over half of the nine million acres of
shellfish growing waters in the region have regulatory limitations
on harvest (1995 National Shellfish Register,
1996). These closures and limitations are due to a variety
of reasons, ranging from administrative rules to degraded water
quality.
The Gulf of Mexico Program, a cooperative partnership among federal, state, and local
government agencies, industry, and citizens to improve the environmental water quality of
the region, has recognized the importance of shellfish bed closures as an indicator of the
potential decline in coastal water quality. It has identified the restoration of shellfish
acreage as one of its top environmental objectives, and the Program partners have pledged
to work together to meet the Shellfish Challenge to: "increase Gulf shellfish beds
available for safe harvesting by 10 percent."
- History of the Challenge
- Measuring Results
- Publications
- Using Stategic Assessment to Define
Strategies & Target Watersheds for Shellfish Restoration
2/96 (2 pages, 21 Kb, about PDF)
- Moving from Strategic Assessment
to Implementation 7/96 (2 pages, 31 Kb, about PDF)
- Identifying Priority Oyster Restoration
Projects in the Barataria-Terrebone Basins 3/97 (2 pages, 32 Kb, about PDF)
- Barataria/Terrebonne Shellfish Challenge
- Using Stategic Assessment to Define
Strategies & Target Watersheds for Shellfish Restoration
2/96 (2 pages, 21 Kb, about PDF)
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