Research Provides Foundation for Effective Management of the "Dead Zone" in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

CSCOR-supported Research Provides Foundation for Effective Management of the "Dead Zone" in the Northern Gulf of Mexico

 

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OFFICIAL 2009 FORECAST FOR THE SIZE OF THE DEAD ZONE TO BE ISSUED THE WEEK OF JUNE 15 - 19, 2009 

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Since its inception in 1990, the National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science's Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research (CSCOR) has provided the research foundation upon which management of the "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico is based. This nearly 20 year, $27 million commitment is an exemplar of NOAA's goal to "protect, restore and manage the use of coastal and ocean resources through ecosystem-based management."

Hypoxia (low dissolved oxygen) occurs in many of the world's aquatic environments. Hypoxic and anoxic (no oxygen) waters have existed through geologic time, but the frequency of their occurrence in shallow coastal and estuarine areas worldwide is increasing, largely attributed to anthropogenic nutrient pollution. The largest zone of oxygen-depleted coastal waters in the United States, and the second largest for the world's coastal oceans, is in the northern Gulf of Mexico on the Louisiana continental shelf.

The interagency Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Task Forcewas established in the fall of 1997 as part of a process of considering options for responding to Gulf of Mexico hypoxia. The Task Force is made up of leading representatives from states and the federal government, and includes Dr. Jane Lubchenco, Undersecretary of Commerce for Oceans and Atmosphere and NOAA Administrator. In 2001, the Task Force issued its first Action Plan that set a goal to reduce the size of the hypoxic zone to 5,000 km² by 2015.

This Action Plan, which included 11 specific implementation actions, suggested that a 30% reduction in nitrogen load is needed to reach the goal. Following a scientific reassessment process, the Task Force released the 2008 Action Plan, which reaffirmed the goal of reducing the hypoxic zone and suggested 45% reductions of both nitrogen and phosphorus.

For nearly 20 years, NCCOS' Center for Sponsored Coastal Ocean Research, formerly the Coastal Ocean Program, has been on the forefront of this effort. CSCOR involvement began with the NECOP Program; supporting interdisciplinary projects that provided the resource base for the COP-sponsored Committee on Environment and Natural Resources (CENR) integrated assessment in 2000 that was called for in the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act (HABHRCA). This assessment and its six supporting technical reports provided the state-of-knowledge on the characteristics, causes, and effects of Gulf of Mexico hypoxia, and guided the scientific consensus leading to the Action Plan. CSCOR has played a leading role on the Coordinating Committee for the Mississippi River/Gulf of Mexico Watershed Nutrient Task Forceand co-chairs its Monitoring, Modeling and Research Workgroup. In addition, CSCOR continues to lead the support and management of hypoxia research in this region through the HABHRCA-mandated NGOMEX Program.

Knowledge gained through the NGOMEX Program satisfies several elements of the Action Plan. Ongoing studies, utilizing a regional ecosystem approach, are documenting the dynamics of the hypoxic zone over the Louisiana continental shelf and helping to better define the relationships among nutrients, phytoplankton, carbon production and flux, physical properties, and hypoxia effects on fisheries. These studies are leading to enhanced predictive models capable of examining a multitude of interacting factors (e.g. nutrient input and recycling, freshwater inflow, circulation patterns) on the size of the hypoxic zone and how hypoxia affects commercially and ecologically important species in the region. These predictions of complex processes, or ecological forecasts, will allow for the comprehensive assessment of alternative management strategies within the context of influences from the basin and climatic trends. In FY'08 CSCOR's commitment to supporting Task Force science needs was renewed as an additional three year $781,000 project was initiated for the NGOMEX program.

As part of an adaptive management process, in 2006 the Task Force initiated a scientific reassessment of the 2001 Action Plan.  Building on knowledge gained through the NGOMEX program, CSCOR led several elements of a science reassessment, coordinating symposia and preparing peer-reviewed scientific papers, including the Hypoxia in the Northern Gulf of Mexico: Assessing the State of the Science Symposium, co-led with EPA. These scientific symposia and papers provided up-to-date information to an evaluation of the science by an EPA Science Advisory Board Hypoxia Advisory Panel. by Results from the science reassessment, combined with the independent science review by the EPA Science Advisory Board Hypoxia Advisory Panel, has served to update and synthesize research efforts on the causes and consequences of the hypoxic zone and assess progress in implementing nutrient reduction measures in the Mississippi River watershed. This information subsequently led to the adoption of the 2008 Action Plan.

CSCOR continues to address science needs highlighted during the science reassessment through newly funded NGOMEX projects, and CSCOR-sponsored meetings.  In 2007 CSCOR sponsored two critical workshops, the Summit on Long-Term Monitoring of the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Zone: Developing the Implementation Plan for an Operational Observation System, and theEcological Impacts of Hypoxia on Living Resources Workshop.  These workshops have formed the foundation for ongoing efforts to improve monitoring of the hypoxic zone and understand the impacts of hypoxia in the Gulf of Mexico.