A new forecast from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicts the dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico off the coast of Texas and Louisiana will be approximately 5,364 square miles this summer. That's slightly lower than last year but close to the five-year average size.
The zone forms each summer when pollutants and other runoff enters the Gulf of Mexico, providing food for algae. That algae grows and then dies and decomposes, which lowers the oxygen level in the water. That means the water can't support marine life. Most fish, crabs and shrimp can swim out of the affected area but some marine mammals can not and die as a result.
"The Gulf dead zone remains the largest hypoxic zone in United States waters, and we want to gain insights into its causes and impacts," said Nicole LeBoeuf, Assistant Administrator of NOAA’s National Ocean Service. "The modeling we do here is an important part of NOAA's goal to protect, restore and manage the use of coastal and ocean resources through ecosystem-based management."
A federal task force set out a goal of reducing the size of the zone more than 20 years ago. Their target was to get the zone down to about 1,900 square miles.
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