What Are We Currently Doing
Dead zones impose a significant threat to the marine ecosystems as well as the human society. Fish populations are dropping rapidly, damaging the economy. For these reasons, people are taking action to mitigate them and solving this problem.
Solutions
The dead zone problem needs to be remediated, because it has become a serious issue in terms of damaging the economy and marine wildlife. The crucial thing to reducing the dead zone is to target its sources. The solution to solving the dead zone lies in the idea of easing the damage from over-fertilised waters. The hypoxic location is generally caused by farming on the banks of tributaries that branch off from the Mississippi River, so by addressing the farming situations, we can effectively minimise the dead zone. Reducing the input of nitrogen and phosphorus that flow into the water sheds each spring and eventually into the sea or ocean would ease the damage done to the marine ecosystem and cripping fishing/shrimp industries.
As stated in Chris Watt's article, the solution must include efforts to:
1. reduce unnecessary use of these negative influencers
2. restore natural habitats so marine life isn’t stressed to begin with
3. restore natural ecosystems, which evolved over millions of years to
develop the perfect filtering/replenishing systems
4. improve consumer awareness of the problem
Chris Watts. (2010). Gulf Of Mexico Dead Zone: Mitigating
the Damage. Available: https://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/11/30/gulf-of-mexico-dead-zone-mitigating-the-damage/. Last accessed 26th March 2014.
As stated in Chris Watt's article, the solution must include efforts to:
1. reduce unnecessary use of these negative influencers
2. restore natural habitats so marine life isn’t stressed to begin with
3. restore natural ecosystems, which evolved over millions of years to
develop the perfect filtering/replenishing systems
4. improve consumer awareness of the problem
Chris Watts. (2010). Gulf Of Mexico Dead Zone: Mitigating
the Damage. Available: https://www.environmentalleader.com/2010/11/30/gulf-of-mexico-dead-zone-mitigating-the-damage/. Last accessed 26th March 2014.
Organisations That Help
The Virginia Institute of Marine Science is an organisation who collaborate with colleagues around the world in an attempt to mitigate dead zones. They are currently researching and monitoring active dead zones in order to find solutions. As stated by the institute itself, it research consists of:
-Understand how dead zones form.
-Decipher how dead zones affect marine organisms and communities.
-Monitor and model dead zone duration and prevalence.
-Develop criteria to gauge the severity of dead zones.
-Provide guidance to policymakers and resource managers concerning the land-use and water quality strategies needed to reduce dead zone formations.
VIMS. (2014). Mitigation Of Dead Zones. Available:
http://www.vims.edu/research/topics/dead_zones/mitigation/index.php. Last
accessed 26th March 2014.
-Understand how dead zones form.
-Decipher how dead zones affect marine organisms and communities.
-Monitor and model dead zone duration and prevalence.
-Develop criteria to gauge the severity of dead zones.
-Provide guidance to policymakers and resource managers concerning the land-use and water quality strategies needed to reduce dead zone formations.
VIMS. (2014). Mitigation Of Dead Zones. Available:
http://www.vims.edu/research/topics/dead_zones/mitigation/index.php. Last
accessed 26th March 2014.
The researchers at the Ohio State University are currently studying ways of how to reduce the hypoxia in one of the most biggest dead zones in the world in the Gulf of Mexico. They are targeting the agricultural practices on the Mississippi River and its tributaries, because they are the main causes of the hypoxia that is causing fish populations to drop and damaging seafood industries. WIlliam Mitcsh, who is a professor of natural resources at the university states that ,'The answers to controlling hypoxia essentially come down to using nature to take
care of our problems while protecting its biodiversity'. This solution suggests that we should consider focusing more on rebuilding nature instead of cutting down human activites.
OSU. (1998). POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS FOR GULF OF MEXICO’S “DEAD ZONE”
EXPLORED. Available: http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/hypoxia.htm. Last
accessed 27th March 2014.
care of our problems while protecting its biodiversity'. This solution suggests that we should consider focusing more on rebuilding nature instead of cutting down human activites.
OSU. (1998). POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS FOR GULF OF MEXICO’S “DEAD ZONE”
EXPLORED. Available: http://researchnews.osu.edu/archive/hypoxia.htm. Last
accessed 27th March 2014.