# Dead Zone Area?



## muleypsycho (Mar 4, 2013)

Just wondering if the "dead zone" that originates off the coast of Lousiana due to the Mississippi River runoff has affected the fish/fishing around the Pensacola area this year? Or does it ever? just wondering since I will be in the area during the last two weeks of August and plan on fishing a lot of the time.

Thanks

MP


----------



## MathGeek (Mar 31, 2012)

muleypsycho said:


> Just wondering if the "dead zone" that originates off the coast of Lousiana due to the Mississippi River runoff has affected the fish/fishing around the Pensacola area this year? Or does it ever? just wondering since I will be in the area during the last two weeks of August and plan on fishing a lot of the time.
> 
> Thanks
> 
> MP


The "dead zone" isn't dead at all. The nutrient loading from US farms actually greatly increases the fisheries production of the Gulf of Mexico. See:

Grimes, C.B. 2001. Fishery production and the Mississippi River discharge. Fisheries 26:17-26.

http://www.hy-ls.org/index.php/hyls/article/view/100/87

Also, note that the NOAA has published lots of misleading info on the purported "dead zone." See:

See: http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1306/1306.5366.pdf

Finally, both LUMCON and NOAA have been making bad forecasts for a number of years, and it seems that the Gulf of Mexico is actually growing more resistant to nutrient loading leading to hypoxic areas. See:

http://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/1307/1307.8064.pdf

A comparison of LUMCON's annual predictions for hypoxic zone areas compared with their actual measurements. Their predictions since 2006 are systematically high. This paper suggests reasons why the recalibration of their models is inapplicable after 2005, and that the Gulf of Mexico has actually become more resistant to nutrient loading causing hypoxic zones since 2001. (Data obtained from LUMCON annual predictions and press releases available at www.gulfhypoxia.net ).


----------

