'Dead zone' in Gulf of Mexico smaller than predicted this year, but still in top 3 - AP

[Eugene]

Source: Associated Press

'Dead zone' in Gulf of Mexico smaller than predicted
this year, but still in top 3

The Associated Press
Published: July 28, 2007

NEW ORLEANS: The oxygen-poor "dead zone" off the
Louisiana and Texas coasts is not quite as big as predicted
this year, but it is still the third-largest ever mapped, a
scientist said.

Crabs, eels and other creatures usually found on the bottom
of the Gulf of Mexico are swimming in crowds on the surface
because there is too little oxygen in their usual habitat, said
Nancy Rabalais, chief scientist for northern Gulf hypoxia
studies.

-snip-

The 7,900-square-mile (20,460-square-kilometer) area has
almost no oxygen, a condition called hypoxia. The Louisiana-
Texas dead zone is the world's second-largest hypoxic area,
she said.

This year's is about 7.5 percent smaller than what Eugene
Turner, Rabalais' husband and a professor of oceanography
and coastal sciences at Louisiana State University, had
predicted, judging by nitrogen content in the Mississippi
River watershed.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/07/29/america/NA-GEN-US-Dead-Zone.php

[gatorick73]

1. The Caloosahatchee

receives quite a bit of this material from Lake Okeechobee and I'm wondering if we might have a hypoxic area somewhere near say Sanibel or Pine Island? I'm certain that the fisherman and crabbers near there would like to know about this possibility.

[Dogmudgeon]

2. It is easier to test lake oxygen

I would be surprised if it hasn't been done for Okeechobee and its largest feeders/tributaries. You could contact one of the universities in Florida, or the state Department of Agriculture and/or Fisheries.

--p!

[gatorick73]

3. Thank you

There is an IFAS in Immokalee. I'll ask next time I'm through there.

[philb]

4. Florida Bay which receives water from Everglades has large dead zone, plus high mercury

in fish and wildlife. Plus the sea grass along many coastal areas and coral reefs off the Keys and East Coast are in trouble, dying in some areas. I know less about Sanibel area.

[kestrel91316]

5. Eat local. Eat organic. Eat grass-fed beef if at all. Support your local

wetlands preservation/restoration efforts. Support the Audubon Society (big habitat preservers). Support community efforts to incorporate constructed wetlands into wastewater and storm runoff management.

Agricultural runoff and loss of functioning wetlands ARE THE CAUSE of our dead zones. They are not just some sad, random occurrence.