Grist Article - More corn for meat and ethanol, less habitat for Gulf fish

By Tom Philpott
August 2, 2010

"Deep in the Gulf of Mexico, plumes of dispersed oil linger, wreaking unknown damage on one of the globe's most productive ecosystems. But BP's oil isn't the only destructive substance that gushed into the Gulf this year. This summer -- and every summer since the early 1970s -- a large amount of fertilizer leached out of Midwestern corn fields and into streams that drain into the Mississippi, eventually making its way to the Gulf. Once there, it feeds gigantic algae blooms that, as they decompose, suck up oxygen and squeeze out sea life. Scientists call this process 'hypoxia.' Researchers from Louisiana Universities Marine Consortium have been measuring the Gulf's hypoxic zone since 1985. Every year, they gauge the size of the 'dead zone' by heading out on a research ship called the Pelican to measure oxygen levels near the Mississippi's mouth. The team has just filed its report [PDF] for this year. Their verdict: 'one of the largest ever.'..."

http://www.grist.org/article/2010-08-02-more-corn-for-meat-and-ethanol-less-habitat-for-gulf-fish/