Even before the Deepwater Horizon platform exploded on April 20, 2010, sending as-yet-untotalled millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico, no one, I suspect, thought of the Gulf as a pristine ocean wilderness. And indeed, as the site of significant offshore oil and gas production, a "dead zone" the size of New Jersey, and, at least until recently, highly lucrative commercial and sport fisheries, it's not.

Nevertheless, the Gulf of Mexico is far from being an ecological wasteland, one reason that the spill-caused fisheries closures have been so economically devastating. In addition to supporting these large fisheries, the Gulf of Mexico is the nursery for an amazing variety of marine creatures. For example, the Gulf is one of the few known nurseries of the increasingly endangered bluefin tuna, and tuna reared in the Gulf can appear as far away as the Mediterranean.

This biological richness is the reason that the Gulf of Mexico is also home to a number of marine protected areas (MPAs). MPAs are geographically designated sections of the ocean that are legally identified and regulated for specific uses. While the most protective MPAs prohibit all extractive uses in the designated area, most MPAs serve other purposes. For example, MPAs can also result in zoning certain highly used areas, such as coral reefs, to separate potentially conflicting uses--separating scuba diving and snorkeling from fishing, or separating sport fishers from commercial fishers. This type of marine spatial planning has recently become the focus of President Barack Obama's national oceans policy.