The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (GSMFC) is an organization of the five states (Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida), whose coastal waters are the Gulf of Mexico. This compact, authorized under Public Law 81-66, was signed by the representatives of the Governors of the five Gulf States on July 16, 1949, at Mobile, Alabama. It has as its principal objective the conservation, development, and full utilization of the fishery resources of the Gulf of Mexico, to provide food, employment, income, and recreation to the people of these United States.