The Danger Of Dead Zones During The Gulf Of Mexico

The main problem this paper intends to discuss regards the Gulf of Mexico dead zone. This dead zone, which for the most part encompasses the water off the coast of Louisiana, becomes depleted in dissolved oxygen. The dead zone is an outcome of nutrient runoff into the Gulf from urban areas, wastewater treatment plants, and from atmospheric deposition, however, the majority comes from fertilizers used in agriculture around the Mississippi River Basin. The increase in nutrients has been affecting the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem by forming difficult conditions in which organisms live. Another consequence that is directly related to the ecosystem damage is the effect on the fishing economy in in the region. In the paper I will address the questions, how has the dead zone specifically caused damage to the ecosystem of the Gulf of Mexico and how has that damage affected the economic productivity of the fisheries? Furthermore, what policy solutions exist to solve the dead zone problem?

The U.S. military is fully behind continuing the moratorium on drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico. These areas have been utilized for years to develop, test and train a variety of combat systems. In May 2017, Anthony M. Kurta, the acting Under Secretary of Defense, sent a letter to Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) expressing the need to continue to drilling ban. Mr. Kurta expressed the need to retain the unrestricted training access to these areas, as multiple military bases, from Pensacola to Key West utilize these areas. Explaining that “Emerging technologies such as hypersonic[s], autonomous systems, and advanced sub-surface systems will require enlarged testing and training footprints, and increased DoD reliance on the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act’s moratorium beyond 2022. The moratorium is essential for developing and sustaining our nation’s future combat capabilities.” Increasing the drilling footprint in this region will clearly have a negative effect on the readiness and advancement of our military might. Others in strong opposition to this expansion are the environmental groups.

The Gulf of Mexico, an ocean basin mostly surrounded by the North America continental, is generally referred as the south coast of America and one of the major regions for source and infrastructure of oil and gas supply in the United States. Four of the states including Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama on the Gulf of Mexico consist of the significant petroleum-producing area. According to the data provided by the Energy Information Administration [1], the Gulf of Mexico offshore oil and natural gas production account for 17% and 5% respectively of the total U.S. crude oil and dry gas production. Additionally, about 45% of the petroleum refining and 51% of the natural gas processing capacity in the United States are spread out on the Gulf of Mexico.

The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is one of many throughout the world. There are many factors that cause the dead zone and not all dead zones are caused from the same things. In the Gulf of Mexico the dead zone is cause by nitrogen and phosphorus (fertilizer) go into the gulf and trigger phytoplankton blooms or algae blooms. First the oxygen rich water comes into the gulf and stratifies going to the bottom. Then the majority of the the nitrogen and phosphorus from agriculture and urban run offs from the Mississippi River watershed flow in the spring and early summer. For example 70% come from where the Ohio and Mississippi rivers meet, 39% come from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, 22% come from Ohio river basin, and 11% from the Missouri river basin, and the rest come from Arkansas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Tennessee. Next the phytoplankton use all that fertilizer and die. Then the phytoplankton falls to the bottom of the sea and decomposes using all the oxygen. Then because of water stratification the oxygen levels on the bottom do not get

Drilling in ANWR could greatly benefit the United States. It could boost the economy, decrease foreign oil trade, lower oil prices worldwide and create about 750,000 jobs, throughout the United States. On the other hand it could ruin ecosystems and tamper with wildlife’s habitats, for a less than significant amount of oil. Either way a decision has to be made. Prudhoe Bay is steadily declining. The question is whether the government wants to continue paying the high price of foreign imports or drill at ANWR and potentially ruin fragile and ecologically sensitive ecosystems.

The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is a human problem, like most other disasters. What this means is that once the place thrived and was ecologically balanced, but we tipped the balance slightly and wrecked havoc upon the environment. It has been noted to occur since the 1950’s and is ongoing. The reason that this dead zone occurs is because of a phenomenon known as eutrophication. Eutrophication is when there is an excessive amount of nutrients in a body of water and it causes an abundance of plants to grow. In this case the nearby farms had been using nitrogen in their fertilizers. The nitrogen got carried into the ocean through rain and other forms of

First, a “National Geographic Society”, (2011) article had detailed about a problem called a “ Dead Zone”. Dead zones are caused by the eutrophication of rivers, lakes, and oceans. When there are too many nutrients or too much fertilizer run off in an aquatic area causes something called an “Algae Bloom”. When the algae grows it covers the water's surface preventing sunlight from penetrating the water, which in time prevents aquatic plants from making oxygen and leaves the fish with little air to breathe thus causing a dead zone. Today in the Gulf of Mexico the is a dead zone the size of Connecticut, Connecticut is 5,543 square miles!

According to Merriam Webster Dictionary, a dead zone is “an area of water (as in a lake or ocean) in which the level of dissolved oxygen is so depleted (as by the decay of an algal bloom) that most life cannot be sustained”(“Dead Zone”). In the Gulf of Mexico, between the time of Spring and Summer, a dead zone or hypoxic zone occurs off the coast. Although this can occur naturally around the world, on the coast of Gulf of Mexico the large size affected is result of anthropogenic interference of city sewage dump and farmland run off.

Water pollution is a leading culprit in the environmental problems facing the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Poor water quality is blamed for declines in coral recruitment, fish kills, and seagrass die-offs, among other ills. Pesticides, herbicides, heavy metals, and hydrocarbons from farms, suburban yards, and highways eventually end up in sanctuary waters, as does a huge infusion of nutrients from wastewater and fertilizer. Commercial shipping operations release hazardous materials and dump trash of all descriptions. Adding to the degradation are small daily doses of oil from thousands of motor boats.

The oil plume in the Gulf of Mexico is a direct environmental impact on subjects like eutrophication of

Pollution. According to many articles 80% of the pollution that enters the ocean comes from land. Aka us. Pollution in the water will create or lead to ocean dead zones.Ocean dead zones are areas in the ocean that doesn't have enough oxygen to sustain life. These areas are created because there is an increase in chemical nutrients in the water. And there is an excessive broom of algae.Ocean dead zones also are spreading and increasing.

OMZs are oxygen minimum zones found in parts of oceans where the oxygen is poor and generally happen in medial levels when winds create currents that move water along a continent’s shoreline, the said currents then sweep water offshore and to replace the lost mass, cold water rises up from the ocean’s depths. The longer this occurs the surface dwelling organisms that inhabit the intermediate levels of the ocean can become permanently short of oxygen thus OMZs occur. According to the National Oceanographic Data Center, or the NODC, fixed OMZs are over about 2% of the ocean’s seafloor. Seasonal OMZs happen as well, for example water off of Chile can become depleted during the spring and summer. Human activity can cause depletion of oxygen such as sewage, waste spillage, and runoff. Oxygen-depleted zones are important to scientists because understanding the shaping and impact of them could become advantageous due to the detrimental effects the oxygen minimum zones have on the ocean environment and ecology.

Dead zones are hypoxic zones that can occur naturally but recently are being created by human interference and any naturally occurring ones rapidly grow bigger due to outside influence.The main impact humans have that cause dead zones are the surplus of nutrients in the water, these come primarily from farms and drain into rivers and streams or as excess water that is dumped into a lake or river. All the nutrients allows huge amounts of algae to grow at a rapid rate and once there is no longer enough nutrients to support them all they they begin to die and this process deprives the water of oxygen killing everything.One of the biggest dead zones and most deteimental is the one located in the Gulf of Mexico, as of August 2015 it was 6474 square miles.This can lead to devestating effect as many types of fish die and those that do manage to escape end up miles away causing fishermen to travel further and adding to the damage in the sea food industry.

Dead zones are low-oxygen, or hypoxic, areas in the world’s oceans and lakes. Because most organisms need oxygen to live, few organisms can survive in hypoxic conditions. That is why these areas are called dead zones.

The world has been affected by many environmental disasters, these events have impacted many of our ecosystems including the lives of many species, as well as human life. Because of past events, economists have learned from mistakes to continue to work on an improved environmental life as well as looking for solutions to improve it. The Deepwater Horizon spill, better knows as the “BP Oil Spill” was an eighty seven oil spill effecting the entire Gulf of Mexico. The oil spill which occurred in 2010 is still the largest accidental oil spill in the history of petroleum industry (CNN). Economists are still working to this day to diminish the severity of the oil spill, and the long-lasting problems that have came with it. Since then prevention became the key component solution to prevent accidental oil pollution. With over 4.2 million barrels being spilled into the Gulf, environmental disasters such as the oil spill make citizens aware of the costliness of the environment that plays hand in hand with an environmental luxury such as oil. The explosion of the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico and the subsequent oil spill led us to review our marine pollution control policy and to plan ahead to stay prepared for any events that happen in the future. By doing this, oil companies will provide a correct means to strategize, compensate, and prevent oil spills and economical damage that follows.