To advance the nation’s first regional shellfish initiative, the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission provided funding to the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium. The Gulf of Mexico Shellfish Initiative (GoMexSI) team engaged a broad range of stakeholders including shellfish farmers, shellfish harvesters, environmental organizations, state and local management agencies, foundations, and others to identify strategies to be implemented in the future to ensure sustainable shellfish populations for current and future generations.
Regional and state-specific priorities and concerns have been identified by stakeholders through a series of face-to-face meetings, an online survey, and personal communications to capture their feedback on shellfish resources in the Gulf of Mexico. Meetings were held in three Florida locations- Tampa, Cedar Key, and Apalachicola from July to August 2017. The intent was to determine what stakeholders thought was going well and what was not going well. Furthermore, stakeholders were asked to envision what the shellfish industry could be in the region and what specific accomplishments would constitute success. In “The Gulf of Mexico Shellfish Initiative: Stakeholder Feedback” report, stakeholder input is summarized regionally and by state.
A copy of that report can be accessed here: The Gulf of Mexico Shellfish Initiative: Stakeholder Feedback
