Dead zones, or hypoxic areas where creatures that cannot swim away are smothered in oxygen-depleted estuarine and coastal waters, are developing throughout the U.S. Probably the hypoxic area that is best known is in the Gulf of Mexico, where the largest area of anthropogenic coastal hypoxic water in the world can be found.
What researchers know about the Gulf of Mexico's dead zone is that unless the nutrient load that washes into the gulf from the Mississippi River is reduced, hypoxia will appear each summer over a large area, which in the past has grown to the size of Massachusetts.
To significantly reduce the size and impact of the gulf's hypoxic area, researchers say, a nationally coordinated and wholly funded initiative is necessary. With the nation's limited fiscal resources focused on national security, however, the biggest reduction to the dead zone may result from the land-use planning, pollution prevention, coordination, and educational efforts of state and local coastal and inland resource managers.
In this edition of Coastal Services, we look at the issues of hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico and the potential role for coastal resource managers.
Habitat concerns, such as hypoxic areas, will be part of the discussion at the Solutions to Coastal Disasters Conference 2005 being held May 8 through 11 in Charleston, South Carolina.
Co-sponsored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), presentations will cover topics ranging from hazard planning to port management, to storm response and monitoring. Special sessions will cover the South Asia tsunami and the hurricanes of 2004—Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne. To register, point your browser to www.asce.org/conferences/cd05/.
Also, don't forget to register for Coastal Zone 05, the premier conference for the world's coastal resource managers, being held July 17 through 21 in New Orleans, Louisiana. With over 1,000 participants expected from all over the world, this conference promises to provide valuable tools, lessons learned, and many new ideas. For more information, go to www.csc.noaa.gov/cz/.
Hope to see you at both of these exciting conferences!
-- Margaret A. Davidson
