Ocean Dead Zones

As mentioned in yesterday's post, ocean "Dead Zones" are being discovered more rapidly around the world. Dead zones are marine areas that are permanently or periodically starved of oxygen, leaving such poor water quality that only microbes can survive in it. New research is showing that there are currently now 400 coastal dead zone areas, a number that has been doubling every 10 years since the 1960s.

What is causing such an increase in coastal ocean death? Fertilizer run-off from farmlands and sewage from expanded corn production and factory farming. The New York Times explains, "Nitrogen from agricultural runoff and sewage stimulates the growth of photosynthetic plankton on the surface of coastal waters. As the organisms decay and sink to the bottom, they are decomposed by microbes that consume large amounts of dissolved oxygen. Most animals that live at the bottom of the coastal ocean cannot survive as oxygen levels drop."

Treehugger suggests decreasing the amount of fertilizer used overall. Most experts agree that a 45 % decrease in nitrogen-rich runoff from the Mississippi River watershed, which extends into the croplands of the upper midwest, alone would increase the return of oxygen to the Gulf of Mexico’s dead zone by 33%.

The ocean is where life as we know it began. We have not yet awakened to the astronomical amount of nutrient-rich life existing there nor do we understand how important the oceans are to us. It would be in our best interest to protect the oceans on a global scale.