Death by Aquatic Hypoxia Ocean Dead Zones | Page 8

WHY YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT HYPOXIA.

What it's doing...

The ocean is where a lot of people get their food and it is also where a lot of animals live. Ocean hypoxia threatens both of these things. It threatens our food resources because it kills them. Then because of this we have to fish more driving more species to extinction. Ocean hypoxia also threatens fish not only because it kills them but because it moves them from their home and habitat. The have to adapt to a new area because their previous home was devoid of oxygen. "He(Eric Prince) and his colleagues had found that a huge dead zone, an area of the ocean with very little oxygen, had developed in the Atlantic. It spread from the east coast of South America across the ocean to the west coast of Africa; it was the size of North America.

"Ninety-five percent of all the marine organisms in the ocean depend on adequate levels of dissolved oxygen," he said. "They tend to be squeezed by this hypoxia [diminished oxygen] into a very narrow layer at the surface of the ocean. In the process of being compressed near the surface, they become a lot more vulnerable to overexploitation by surface-eaters. This involves some of our most important food fish, yellowfin tuna for example."

"Ninety-five percent of all the marine organisms in the ocean depend on adequate levels of dissolved oxygen," he said. "They tend to be squeezed by this hypoxia [diminished oxygen] into a very narrow layer at the surface of the ocean. In the process of being compressed near the surface, they become a lot more vulnerable to overexploitation by surface-eaters. This involves some of our most important food fish, yellowfin tuna for example." (Kasper, 2014) So because of ocean hypoxia you can say goodbye to your dinner, the coral reef fish you may like, and the sport you may enjoy.