Long Term Effects:
At the Dead Zones, lakes and oceans will remain barren until the chemical fertilizers responsible for algal bloom are seriously reduced, prevented from entering the waterways, or eliminated from agricultural use altogether. Nitrogen in salt water and phosphorus in fresh water are over-feeding one organism and suffocating many others. Dead zones spread and expand annually while new ones also appear. The NOAA stated in 2008 that there were 405 dead zones globally. These include the Baltic Sea, Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico, Lake Erie, Chesapeake Bay, to name a few (5).
The dead zones are part of a vicious cycle of human activity that is causing environmental degradation globally. The Gulf of Mexico was already seriously impacted by agricultural runoff from industrial farming practices when Hurricane Katrina hit and made it worse just before the BP oil spill (1). By now most people have forgotten about the spill, but the long term effects continue to appear. Aquatic life is threatened into extinction in ways that start a chain reaction of loss of biodiversity (6). Without the fish shore birds and people who depend on sea food will suffer. Over time, mass famine and wars over food should be expected. Dead zones may be reversible if we act fast and thoroughly.
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