Chesapeake Bay Also On Track For Record-Setting Dead Zone This Summer - AFP

[hatrack]

Record-setting "dead zones" in the Gulf of Mexico and Chesapeake Bay appear likely this summer, according to new forecasts from a University of Michigan researcher. Donald Scavia, a professor at the U-M School of Natural Resources and Environment (SNRE), makes the annual forecasts using models driven by nutrient load estimates from the U.S. Geological Survey.

In this year's Chesapeake Bay Hypoxic Volume Forecast, Scavia predicts a summer hypoxic volume of 9.9 cubic kilometers (2.4 cubic miles), the sixth-highest on record. If the upper value of the forecast range of 12.3 cubic kilometers (3 cubic miles) is reached, it will be the highest on record.

The Bay is about 200 miles long on the East Coast and stretches from Maryland to Virginia. It supports thousands of species of plants, fish and animals. The Bay's oxygen levels are critical in determining the health of its ecosystem.

Given recent massive flooding of cities and farms in the Mississippi River basin, the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Area Forecast is for the dead zone to cover between 21,500 and 22,500 square kilometers (8,400-8,800 square miles) of bottom waters along the Louisiana-Texas coast. If the prediction bears out, it will be the largest on record.

EDIT

http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Large_Dead_Zones_Predicted_For_Gulf_And_Chesapeake_Bay_999.html

[cap]

1. I hope that dead zone is right by Cheney's and Rumsfeld's houses

eom

[phantom power]

2. That one fisherman's comment was right.

No amount of reduction in harvesting is going to restore populations while we continue to fucking suffocate them.

(not to be mistaken as an argument against reduction in harvesting)