The Gulf of Mexico waters
touch the shores of the United
States, Mexico, and Cuba. The
Gulf of Mexico has an area of
approximately 580,000 square
miles, contains an approximate
584,000 cubic miles of water, and
has an average depth of 5,299
feet (Nipper et al., 2008). The
U.S. portion of the Gulf of Mexico
region extends from the Florida
Keys westward to the southern tip
of Texas, following the coastline of
five states. The combined coastline
of these states, Alabama, Florida,
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas
totals over 47,000 miles.
