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[watsan, subsistence] Rapid Growth Found in Oxygen-Starved Ocean 'Dead Zones'

We have a shallow bay and tundra ponds which double as cess pits or garbage dumps. Fortunately, our temperatures stay on the cool side, although in spring one can watch the bottom muck in ponds rise to the surface as the dark pond warms. The muck then sinks back down (I’m guessing because the outgassing finishes.) We don’t have much if any water quality monitoring around our living areas so we could have micro-dead zones. mpb from Science in the News Rapid Growth Found in Oxygen-Starved Ocean ‘Dead Zones’ from the New York Times (Registration Required) Many coastal areas of the world’s oceans are being starved of oxygen at an alarming rate, with vast stretches along the seafloor depleted of it to the point that they can barely sustain marine life, researchers are reporting. The main culprit, scientists say, is nitrogen-rich nutrients from crop fertilizers that spill into coastal waters by way of rivers and streams. A study to be published Friday in the journal Science says the number of these marine “dead zones” around the world has doubled about every 10 years since the 1960s. About 400 coastal areas now have periodically or perpetually oxygen-starved bottom waters, many of them growing in size and intensity. Combined, the zones are larger than Oregon. http://snipurl.com/3gbvl