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Any committee that is the slightest use is composed of people who are too busy to want to sit on it for a second longer that they have to.

- Katharine Whitehorn
British Journalist

 

Farmers, Fishers, and Hypoxia

Download a White Paper prepared by the Mississippi River Basin Alliance

Action Plan

Published by the EPA, this action plan describes a national strategy to reduce, mitigate, and control hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico and improve water quality in the Mississippi River Basin.

Link to EPA Mississippi River Basin & Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Force

Shrimp Organizations

Do it for the Shrimp

 

 

In the Gulf of Mexico is a large region of water that is very low in oxygen, and therefor cannot support life. It is believed to be caused by excess nutrients delivered from the Mississippi River in combination with seasonal stratification of Gulf waters. Excess nutrients promote algal and zooplankton growth. Organic matter from these blooms sink to the bottom where it decomposes, consuming available oxygen. Oxygen levels cannot be recharged from the O2-rich surface waters, because the stratification (layering) of salt and fresh waters prevent the mixing necessary to do so.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although physically far removed from an ocean, west-central Indiana has a direct impact on  water quality in the Gulf of Mexico. It has been established that Indiana contributes 5-10% of phosphorus and 10-17% of the nitrogen that contribute to the Dead Zone. USGS maps indicate that nutrient yields of western Indiana, including the Busseron Creek Watershed are disturbingly high.

 

 

This year, scientists predict the the hypoxic zone will cover between 7500 and 8500 square miles - an area roughly the same size as New Jersey.

The Gulf's Dead Zone presently occurs in areas that were the most productive fishing grounds in the Gulf of Mexico throughout the 1950's and 1960's. Similar to the way deer move to escape a flood, fish and shrimp can move to avoid the hypoxic area. Unfortunately, their new homes are often less than ideal. Average brown shrimp sizes have been decreasing. The direct correlation between the Gulf Dead Zone and declining shrimp industry has yet to be proven... 

Just looking at the area with a grain of common sense tells you: This can't be good.

We may not be able to clean up the whole Gulf, but we can make a difference. The longest journey begins with a single step. Ours is in our own stream. In short, the WCIWA is not only working to clean up the waters within our backyard watershed - We're working to clean up the waters downstream. After all, We all live downstream from each other. So let's do it for the shrimp!

 

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