Dead Zones Killing Off Nutritional Foods

A report issued last week by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has found that the number of oxygen-starved ocean "dead zones" has increased by more than a third over the last two years.

Dead zones form when microscopic marine plants called phytoplankton -- which act as the backbone of marine food chains -- explode in mass, attracting oxygen-consuming bacteria. The oxygen depletion, called hypoxia, kills off large quantities of fish, oysters, sea grasses and other forms of ocean life.

The National Weather Channel Saturday Night Show and MSNBC Websites gave up to date information:

The number of oxygen-deprived "dead zones" in the world's oceans has been increasing since the 1970s and is now nearly 150, threatening fisheries as well as humans who depend on fish, the U.N. Environment Program announced Monday in unveiling its first-ever Global Environment Outlook Year Book.

These "dead zones" are caused by an excess of nitrogen from farm fertilizers, sewage and emissions from vehicles and factories. In what experts call a “nitrogen cascade,” the chemical flows untreated into oceans and triggers the proliferation of plankton, which in turn depletes oxygen in the water.

“Humankind is engaged in a gigantic, global experiment as a result of the inefficient and often overuse of fertilizers, the discharge of untreated sewage and rising emissions from vehicles and factories,” Klaus Toepfer

Solutions and preventive steps that Americans can support

•Planting new forests and grasslands will help soak up excess nitrogen, keeping it out of waterways.

•Requiring vehicles to reduce nitrogen emissions.

•Fostering alternative energy sources that are not based on burning fossil fuels.

•Better sewage treatment would reduce nutrient discharges to coastal waters.