The most infamous and largest dead zone is 8,500 square miles (about the size of New Jersey) off the Gulf of Mexico. The dead zone is within the Gulf of Mexico's waters and near the Mississippi River, which drains farms up and down the Midwest. The Mississippi River is rich in nutrients from fertilizer and animal waste that ends up in the ocean, starting the cycle of bacterial respiration. This is an issue because the Gulf of Mexico is a major source for the seafood industry. It supplies 72% of U.S. harvested shrimp, 66% of harvested oysters, and 16% of commercial fish. As a result, if the hypoxic zone plateus or worsens, fishermen and coastal state economies will be greatly impacted.8