Environment

nwf.org - by Douglas B. Inkley - April 2, 2013

Three years after the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and dumped more than 200 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico, wildlife and wetlands are still recovering. How are they faring?

This report gives a snapshot view of six wildlife species that depend on a healthy Gulf and the coastal wetlands that are critical to the Gulf’s food web.

It describes different sources of restoration funding and provides initial suggestions as to how this funding can be used to improve the outlook for the species discussed in the report.

Spotlight Species: Bottlenose Dolphin

In August 2011, scientists did a comprehensive health examination of a 16-year-old male bottlenose dolphin.

This dolphin—dubbed Y12 for research purposes—was caught near Grand Isle, a Louisiana barrier island that was oiled during the Gulf oil disaster.

Less oxygen dissolved in the water is often referred to as a dead zone? (in red above) because most marine life either dies, or, if they are mobile such as fish, leave the area. / NOAA

marcoislandflorida.com - USA Today - by Dan Vergano - June 19, 2013

Environmental biologists foresee a record-size “dead zone” for the Gulf of Mexico this summer, a New Jersey-sized patch of water deadly to marine life, federal officials announced. 

Seen every year off the Texas and Louisiana coasts, the zone forms largely because of fertilizer runoff from the Corn Belt flowing down the Mississippi, where the nutrients spur the growth of the algal blooms that remove oxygen from the water in the Gulf. The especially large size this year of the predicted zone, perhaps 8,500 square miles, appears to be tied to Midwestern floods that washed more nutrients into the river.

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