It’s spring and everything is in bloom. But, the blooms that live in the ocean are not the ones that turn into beautiful flowers. They become oceanic dead zones, that create havoc around the world. Where every living creature in the seas are at risk. Phytoplankton is a living organism that creates dead zones. Dead zones kill fish, lobster, clams, crab, oysters, dolphins, whales and anything else that comes in contact with it.
So, what is a dead zone? A dead zone is nitrogen and phosphorus in excessive amounts that flows into our rivers and streams and enters into the ocean. It is fertilizer, human and animal waste, agricultural runoff and industrial waste. All of this makes algal blooms. The algal eats up all of the oxygen around it. Then, as it dies it begins to sink to the bottom floor. As the algal descends it kills everything in it’s path, as it eats away all of the oxygen yet again. By the time it has reached the ocean floor the beginning of a dead zone has been created.
Every one of our coastlines is literally affected. Some dead zones stretch for hundreds of miles, turning into thousands. Robert Howarth at action bioscience.org states, “ Of 139 U.S. coastal areas assessed recently, 44 were identified as severely affected by high levels of these nutrients.” He also goes on to tell us that the scientists fear it will get worse as the decades pass. http://oceantoday.noaa.gov/happnowdeadzone/
The following short film is for your education as to what a dead zone really is and what it is doing to our oceans and our economy. Please watch it with us. And then think about what you can do to help clean up our oceans.
-Kelly Peters
Sources:
http://www.actionbioscience.org/environment/howarth.html
So, what is a dead zone? A dead zone is nitrogen and phosphorus in excessive amounts that flows into our rivers and streams and enters into the ocean. It is fertilizer, human and animal waste, agricultural runoff and industrial waste. All of this makes algal blooms. The algal eats up all of the oxygen around it. Then, as it dies it begins to sink to the bottom floor. As the algal descends it kills everything in it’s path, as it eats away all of the oxygen yet again. By the time it has reached the ocean floor the beginning of a dead zone has been created.
Every one of our coastlines is literally affected. Some dead zones stretch for hundreds of miles, turning into thousands. Robert Howarth at action bioscience.org states, “ Of 139 U.S. coastal areas assessed recently, 44 were identified as severely affected by high levels of these nutrients.” He also goes on to tell us that the scientists fear it will get worse as the decades pass. http://oceantoday.noaa.gov/happnowdeadzone/
The following short film is for your education as to what a dead zone really is and what it is doing to our oceans and our economy. Please watch it with us. And then think about what you can do to help clean up our oceans.
-Kelly Peters
Sources:
http://www.actionbioscience.org/environment/howarth.html
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