WEBVTT
Kind: captions
Language: en

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The numbers are in. The 2019 Gulf of
Mexico Hypoxic Zone, or Dead Zone, an area

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of low oxygen that can kill fish and
marine life near the bottom of the sea,

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measures 6,952 square miles. This is the

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8th largest dead zone in the Gulf
since mapping of the zone began in 1985!

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It begins innocently enough. Farmers use
fertilizers to increase the output of

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their crops so that we can have more
food on our tables and more food to sell

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to the rest of the world. But it is this
agricultural runoff combined with urban

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runoff that brings excessive amounts of
nutrients into waterways that feed the

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Mississippi River and starts a chain of
events in the Gulf that turns deadly.

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These nutrients fuel large algal blooms
that then sink, decompose,

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and deplete the water of oxygen.

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This is hypoxia -

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when oxygen in the water is so low it can no longer sustain marine life

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in bottom or near bottom waters -  literally a dead zone.

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When the water reaches this hypoxic state,

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fish and shrimp leave the area and anything that can't

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escape like crabs, worms, and clams die.

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So, the very fertilizers
that are helping our crops are

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disrupting the food chain and
devastating our food sources in the

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ocean when applied in excess.

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If the amount of fertilizer, sewage, and urban runoff

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dumping into the Gulf isn't reduced, the dead zone will continue

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to wreak havoc on the ecosystem and
threaten some of the most productive

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fisheries in the world.