Gulf dead zone misses forecast, is still bigger than goal size By Perry Beeman, Des Moines Register.com30 July 2013This year’s dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico is smaller than expected, but still significantly bigger than a federal task force’s goal. The oxygen-free zone — the result largely of fertilizer runoff from the Midwest — [...]

Large low-oxygen area mapped off coast By Nikki Buskey, Houmatoday.com29 July 2013  A map of this year's dead zone off the coast of Louisiana. The red areas indicate waters with the lowest levels of oxygen. Image provided by LUMCON This year's dead zone, an area of low- to no-oxygen that forms in the Gulf of [...]

NOAA-supported scientists find large Gulf dead zone, but smaller than predicted29 July 2013 NOAA-supported scientists found a large Gulf of Mexico oxygen-free or hypoxic “dead” zone, but not as large as had been predicted. Measuring 5,840 square miles, an area the size of Connecticut, the 2013 Gulf dead zone indicates nutrients from the Mississippi River [...]

Fisheries officials predict below-average shrimp season By Nikki Buskey, Houmatoday.com9 July 2013Federal fisheries officials are predicting a below-average brown shrimp season for the next year in waters off Louisiana and federal waters off Louisiana and Texas. Scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issue an annual prediction of brown shrimp catches based on monitoring [...]

Ethanol responsible for this year's expected record dead zone, researcher says By Todd Masson, NOLA.com10 July 2013 As if South Louisiana anglers needed another reason to hate ethanol, they're going to get one this year. The Gulf of Mexico "dead zone," a swath of low-oxygen water that forms off the Louisiana coast every summer, is supposed [...]

Mississippi Gulf Coast fish kill expected to continue By Daniel Kelly, Environmental Monitor12 July 2013Officials at the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources say that a recent fish kill along the state’s Gulf coast is the largest they’ve seen, according to KVUE. The fish kill has brought dead crabs, eels and stingrays ashore. Beachgoers were disturbed by [...]

Fish washing up on Harrison, Hancock beaches believed to be dying from a lack of oxygen By Kate Magandy and Karen Nelson, Sun Herald1 July 2013   AMANDA McCOY/SUN HERALDCoast residents flock to the beach in Biloxi to participate in what some are calling a jubilee as thousands of fish wash ashore on Harrison and Hancock [...]

Study shows 'dead zone' impacts Chesapeake Bay fishes By Science Codex8 July 2013 A 10-year study of Chesapeake Bay fishes by researchers at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science provides the first quantitative evidence on a bay-wide scale that low-oxygen "dead zones" are impacting the distribution and abundance of "demersal" fishes—those that live and feed near [...]

Farm Bill Follies By G. Tracy Mehan, III, The American Spectator24 June 2013  The farm bills now before Congress… attest, if nothing else, to the inertia of politics. There is no “public interest” (a phrase often meaningless in Washington) in having government subsidize farmers. Food would be produced without subsidies. — Robert Samuelson, author and economics journalist [...]

State Clean Water Mandates Urged By The Gazette (Iowa)2 July 2013  Bill Stowe, leader of the Des Moines Water Works, discusses water-quality issues during a news conference outside the Iowa Capitol Building. Sen. Dick Dearden, D-Des Moines, (left) and Josh Kublie, campaign coordinator with Environment Iowa, and members of his statewide, citizen-based advocacy group listen [...]