The marine life in the Gulf of Mexico is heading to a more oxygen-friendly vacation spot this summer because the Gulf’s dead zone is estimated to be the largest yet since records began back in 1985. 

R. Eugene Turner of LSU, along with other scientists from Louisiana State University and the Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium, estimate that this summer the dead zone will reach about 10,084 square miles (about the size of Massachusetts). The average size since 1990 has been about half that (approximately 6,046 square miles). A dead zone occurs when there is not enough oxygen in an area for any living organism to survive. In the Gulf’s case, the Mississippi River is to blame. 

At the end of each spring, high levels of nitrogen, phosphorous and other chemicals from fertilizers run off of farms and pour into the river. These fertilizers keep doing their job long after they leave the farm, and in the Gulf, they help the algae grow.  Once the algae die, however, the oxygen is sucked out of the area creating a dead zone.  The dead zone only lasts from the beginning of the summer thru early fall, but it affects every animal in or around the area.

Because the need for corn has increased, Midwestern farmers started growing more crops and, therefore, using more chemicals and fertilizers.  Those chemicals continue to pour into the Mississippi River at dangerous levels because of the heavy amounts of rain sweeping the Midwest, and as a result, the Dead Zone could be even larger than the already predicted 10,084 square miles. 

In an effort to revive the Gulf, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force released an action plan on June 16, 2008, after re-assessing the one made in 2001. The plan has eleven major actions that are made to help regulate and reduce the use of nitrogen and phosphorous on farms and help bring awareness to the issue.  However, the plan will only help the Gulf if we follow it; otherwise, the Gulf's animals may have to find a permanent residence elsewhere.