Louisiana scientists have predicted the Gulf of Mexico’s dead zone, an area with little to no oxygen in the northern Gulf, will be larger than the state of Connecticut by the end of July, LSU announced today.
The low-oxygen conditions in the dead zone suffocate oysters, shrimp and crabs, which Louisiana’s seafood industry relies on. One out of every 70 jobs in Louisiana is related to the seafood industry, which has an estimated annual economic impact of over $2.4 billion for the state.
The dead zone will cover about 6,620 square miles of the bottom of the continental shelf located off the coasts Louisiana and Texas. While there are more than 500 dead zones around the world, the northern Gulf of Mexico dead zone is the second largest human-caused coastal hypoxic area in the world.
The dead zone is caused by fertilizer washing down the Mississippi River and emptying into the gulf from midwestern states. The dead zone occurs year-round, but it is most persistent and severe in spring and summer.
