Thread: NOAA warns of HYPOXIC ZONE in Gulf of Mexico.

There's quite a bit to chew on regarding this NOOA warning. But first, let me make an observation. In 1980 we were stationed in Newport News, Virginia. Out of nowhere the Government stepped in and put total ban on any and all marine life in the Chesapeake Bay. This jaw dropping event was the result of a paper mill on the James River dumping Kepone poison into the water. This byproduct is one of the deadliest poisons known. We departed in mid 81 and 3 years later the federal ban was still in effect. 2 years later, the ban was slowly lifted. 5 years of a total ban. The commercial loss was North of 15 billion dollars. I was there. It wasent funny. Move ahead to today. The recent massive rains in the middle of the country has had a catastropic effect on everything in its wake. Now the waters are funneling through the mississippi river and dumping trillions of gallons of contaminated water right into the Gulf. The Hypoxic Zone covers a 500 mile zone around the mouth of the river. Take a guess what states are affected? Were what? 150 miles away? Not rocket science to realize its gonna have a severe impact on us.

Sounds like the gulf is in for some impact for sure. I’ve been hearing about the zone as it moves and kills tons of fish and other marine life that depend on the salinity levels.

BTW the Kepone ban didn’t cover the entire Chesapeake bay,...mainly the James river section, from Richmond down to the Bay, and lasted in some form or another for 13 years. We ate a lot of crabs out of the bay in the 80’s so there were lots of areas unaffected. Another big issue with the bay happened a decade earlier,...hurricane Agnes. It dumped untold billions of gallons of fresh (dirty) water into the bay. Tons of pesticides and pollutants were flushed into the bay. And, unlike the impression the bay gives as a huge expanse of water,...there’s not very much water in the bay relatively speaking. It’s a fairly shallow estuary. That’s one of the reasons spills and other impacts can have such devastating consequences there.

Sounds like you spent a lot of time up there Steve. I spent 14 years there and admittedly, I was in the military and local news wasent high on my priority list. The real impact to us was not being able to take the boys fishing upon our return from Hawaii. The impact to the gulf may or may not be known for some time. Collectively, oil spills and pesticides runoff are evident already. I think its important to keep up with this and hop others will get involved too. Hate to say it but the Gulf is literally turning into a giant septic tank.