Vol. 1, No. 4
Headline Back Issues Fall 1997
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Lack of funding leads GOM Alliance to try new approach Dear Friends of the Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy, After such a wonderful and hopeful story in the Gulf of Maine Times about the launching of the Gulf of Maine Alliance (GOMA), many of you were probably surprised shortly thereafter to receive my letter indicating that GOMA organizing is on hold. I am writing this letter for the benefit of those readers of the Gulf of Maine Times who I may have neglected to include in that mailing. The many discussions I and other members of the GOMA steering committee have had over the past two years have convinced us that the absence of a politically powerful and vocal public constituency for the Gulf of Maine and Bay of Fundy has contributed to the extreme lack of funding, federal governmental interest, and progress in improving the protection, restoration, and management of the commonly-owned Gulf and Fundy coastal and marine resources on which so many of us are dependent. GOMA is an effort to produce a public constituency for the larger ecosystems of our region. The steering committee's strategy for moving GOMA forward was initially "process-driven" in the sense that we had a strong interest in working from the grass roots level upward. The principle difficulty with that approach has been lack of resources and long-term commitments at this time from the foundation community to support such an organizing process. Simply stated, we ran out of funding to pursue that approach. We have made a decision, therefore, to move GOMA forward on an "issue-driven" basis. In this approach, groups that have identified system-level problems such as estuary, coastal, and sub-tidal habitat protection and restoration; oil and gas development and transport; bi-national fisheries management coordination; and atmospheric and water pollution will focus part of their existing efforts on connecting to other groups that are interested in becoming more involved in these issues. This approach is slower in terms of looking more broadly as a Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy community at developing an action plan, but we believe that we will end up with everyone's continued interest and enthusiasm in the same place. The importance of developing our collective voice is too important to the future of this region to let the concept behind GOMA die. We are simply changing our tactics. We appreciate the many efforts by individuals from organizations that have gotten this dialogue to where it is today and the generous support of several foundations, including the Mary Flagler Cary Trust and the Davis Conservation Foundation. I welcome any thoughts about how we can best move ourselves forward as a community of common albeit not identical interests. Peter Shelley |
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Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine