If the hypoxic conditions continue to plague the Gulf of Mexico, however, loads of even more algae inducing nutrients will overload the sea. Issues including pollution from Hurricane Katrina and the BP oil spill have contributed to ocean dead zones, along with the federal push to increase Midwest corn production. With industrial and agricultural activity throughout the Gulf of Mexico and Midwestern states only rising, the possiblity of recovering the oceans is becoming slimmer and slimmer each day.8