Coastal pollution grows more dead zones
Researchers say the number of dead zones in the oceans is rising fast.
The number of dead zones in the world’s oceans is approaching 200, according to an October announcement by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
The list of these sites—where runoff and other anthropogenic inputs spur the growth of algae that suck the oxygen from the water column—has expanded from the 149 locations reported in 2004 by the UNEP Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Sources.
Well-known hypoxic areas, such as those in the Gulf of Mexico at the mouth of the Mississippi River and in the Baltic Sea, have been joined by newly documented dead zones off the shores of South America, Ghana, China, and elsewhere. The complete list will be available in early 2007, according to UNEP researchers.
