The economic significance of the Gulf of Mexico related to population, income, employment, minerals, fisheries and shipping

The Gulf of Mexico is a major economic asset to the 11 states in the United States and Mexico that surround its shores. The potential impact of a post-embargo Cuba (in terms of US involvement), and an historic May 1995 agreement among officials of five US states (Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas) and six Mexican states (Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Campeche, Tabasco, Yucatan, and Quintana Roo) which called for stronger cooperation to deepen relations for the 50 million inhabitants of the Gulf of Mexico makes recent economic interest of political jurisdictions surrounding the Gulf of Mexico readily apparent. This agreement called for immediate intensification of relations affecting investment, tourism, agriculture, fishing, health and environment, education and culture, infrastructure, communication, financing, trade and development. A number of these issues are geographic in nature, while some are tied not only to geography, but to the use of the body of water which links them. They are water dependent.