117th Annual Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association Seminar

The Gulf Intracoastal Canal Association was formed in 1905, decades before there was an identified body of water or waterway system that needed protection.

The Association’s first order of business was to promote the development of a single, major waterway that would connect all major ports along the Gulf Coast. This waterway also would require the establishment of federally-protected status for it and the other inland waterways of the Gulf Coast through legislative efforts. It took more than four decades for the Association’s idea to materialize, but the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway was completed in 1949 and has remained one of the most heavily-traveled and economically-significant marine routes in the nation.