CibbuanoOceanic Dead Zones off the West Coast of the USA
February 18th 2008 10:24
The water off the northwestern shelf of Oregon is part of a 'Dead Zone' in the ocean, a body of water that suffers from a condition called anoxia, where there is little oxygen:
"When dissolved oxygen is 1.4 milliliters per liter, it is considered hypoxic for most marine life -- so a "dead zone" forms. However, some of the data collected by the team from one area off Cape Perpetua on the central Oregon coast showed that dissolved oxygen was as low as 0.5 milliliters per liter in just 45 feet of water; 0.08 in 90 feet; and 0.14 at 150 feet depth."
This research was published in Science; the original paper can be found here.
The researchers went out to look for fish on the ocean floor in the Dead Zone and were shocked at what they found:
""We saw a crab graveyard and no fish the entire day...Thousands and thousands of dead crab and molts were littering the ocean floor, many sea stars were dead, and the fish have either left the area or have died and been washed away.""
It's a phenomenon that is starting to be seen in other parts of the country as well, and we can only surmise that other industrial nations will soon face the same problem. Dead Zones are hypothesized to be caused by a variety of effects - the researchers suggest the wastewater from farming can lead to low oxygen, as well as the effects of global warming.
Certainly, the world's seafood stocks are in peril - several types of fish are harder and harder to find, and as the global population increases, the strain on more common stocks of fish is likely to put them into danger.
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Comment by Sylvie
Comment by Kim Lock
Diving About
I think our oceans are considered a vast resource mainly because it is not easy to see what is going on. When we clear fell the forests, we can see the damage it creates, but we are not able to determine (with such ease) the impact our activities have on our oceans. Marine species can be missing for years before we actually label them extinct. Weather systems are created by oceans, hundreds of species depend on them for food, and they are responsible for removing most of the co2 in our atmosphere!!! Life sure is going to suck once we ruin our oceans.
Kim
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Comment by Cibbuano
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Unfortunately, we've ravaged the oceans as well...