Near-record ‘dead zone’ forecast off U.S. Gulf coast, threatening fish

(Reuters) – A near record-sized “dead zone” of oxygen-starved water could form with the Gulf of Mexico aug, threatening its huge stocks of marine life, researchers said.

The area could spread to around 8,717 square miles (20,577 square km), scientists at Louisiana State University said on Monday, or with regards to the size of your New Hampshire, and greater than the 5-year average of 5,770 square miles.

Experts blamed unusually high rainfall down the U.S. Midwest this Spring that washed farm fertilisers along streams and rivers from your Mississippi River Basin out towards the Gulf.

The nutrients in your fertilizers feed algae that die, decompose and deplete water of oxygen, the Louisiana scientists said.

“Once the oxygen is below two parts per million, any shrimp, crabs, and fish which may swim away, will swim away,” Louisiana State University ocean ecologist Nancy Rabalais told the nation’s Geographic magazine.

“The animals on the sediment [that can’t swim away] is often close to annihilated.”

The problem could easily get even worse if ever again significant tropical storms wash out more farm-fed nutrients, the scientists said.

Sewage elope, caused by the spring floods, also add to the problem, National Geographic reported.

Scientists aided by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted a somewhat smaller 7,829 square mile spread. The record was 8,776 square miles from 2019.

“A major factor resulting in the large dead zone 2010 is the abnormally large quantity of spring rainfall in lot of parts of the Mississippi River watershed,” the agency said to use annual “dead zone” forecast.

A solution is always to keep fertilizer and sewage run-off from getting in the rivers, NOAA said.

A Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Force has been monitoring the matter and has set goals to lessen run-off.

(This story corrects state comparison to New Hampshire from Massachusetts in second paragraph, and clarifies 5-year average)