The Scientific Forum on the Gulf of Mexico: The Islands in the Stream Concept took place in January 2008 in Sarasota, Florida. The purpose of the meeting was to bring together scientists and managers from around the Gulf of Mexico to discuss a range of topics on our knowledge of the Gulf of Mexico, from its geology to larger-scale connectivity to the Caribbean region, and their applications to the concept of a more integrated approach to area-based management. The forum included six panels of invited experts who spoke on the oceanographic and biological features in the Gulf of Mexico, including connections with Mexico and the Mesoamerican barrier reef system, and the legal and regulatory structure currently in place. The charge to the group was to share information, identify gaps in our knowledge, identify additional potential areas for protection, and discuss available science about connectivity and the potential value of establishing a marine protected area network in the Gulf of Mexico.

The purpose of this symposium was to share cross-cutting research and management approaches for understanding biological connectivity in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico and to provide a forum for resource managers and the academic community to address questions on how to apply scientific information to better manage MPAs in the region. The primary goals of the symposium were to 1): provide a forum for information-sharing and feedback between scientists conducting research on marine connectivity and resource managers who are managing resources at a local or regional scale, 2) provide hands-on training opportunities in technologies and approaches for predicting connectivity in the Caribbean region, and 3) provide a synthesis of the information available and future research recommendations on Caribbean connectivity at local and regional spatial scales.