Dead Zone in Gulf of Mexico is the Biggest it's Ever Been

Recently the dead zone has been measured to be about 8,776 square miles long, or about the size of New Jersey. A dead zone is an area of water where nitrogen and phosphorus flowing into the area from the pesticides used on crops gets washed into the streams. Ultimately, this starts a process that deprives the water of oxygen. This then effects how the ecosystem works and in the current dead zone there is almost no fish that are present. This is definitely a bad thing for the environment not only because of how it makes the water inhabitable for the creatures that live in the area, but it has also grown immensely in size since 1985. The "dead zone" according to NOAA was "had an average size of just over 5,800 square miles over the past five years" which is a still a large number. This affects many variables of the ecosystem, too. For example, shrimp who depended on the area affected now may have to go around or over the dead zone which may result in an abnormal stunt in growth. This is unappealing to people who fish for the shrimp. It also affects recreational fishing, forcing fishermen to go further  from the shore to fish. Unfortunately dead zones can't be fixed right away, experts suggest that years of solutions will slowly make an impact if any at all, but it all starts with the way the pesticides and chemicals are used in the midwest.


https://www.nbcnews.com/science/environment/why-year-s-dead-zone-gulf-mexico-bigger-ever-n789636

Comments

  1. chrheaSeptember 14, 2017 at 6:44 PM

    I immediately started thinking about the effects moving through the social sciences. People losing their jobs because there is no fishing to do in the area, companies moving, economic stability of that area decreasing, etc. And if it all starts with the use of chemicals in the midwest, doesn't it seem unfair that coastal gulf towns are the ones to suffer?

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousSeptember 15, 2017 at 6:00 AM

    I feel bad for the people who lose jobs because you can't fish. we really need to discover ways to fix this.

    ReplyDelete

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