Filters: Tags: 2015 (X) > partyWithName: Ricardo McClees-Funinan (X) > partyWithName: Jonathan Miller (X)
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Oil and gas exploration was not evaluated as a stressor variable in the 2015 assessment, but this practice obviously can affect Gulf habitats. With 45 percent of the nation’s petroleum refining capacity, the Gulf of Mexico is one of the most important regions for oil and gas production in the United States. Offshore oil production in the Gulf of Mexico accounts for 17 percent of total U.S. crude oil production and production is expected to increase in 2017. The federal Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement reported that from 2007 to 2014, an average of ten oil spills releasing more than 50 barrels was reported per year just on the Outer Continental Shelf. Obviously, the worst incident was the Deepwater...
The estuaries of Breton/Chandeleur Sound in Louisiana are affected by the annual formation of the northern Gulf of Mexico hypoxic (low oxygen) zone, which is primarily the result of excess nutrients from Mississippi River Basin into the Gulf of Mexico. Urban areas contribute to the nutrient loading but agricultural runoff is the primary source. These nutrients come from the entire basin, which begins in Minnesota and extends through the “farm belt” of the nation. Nutrients are required for plant growth and excess nutrients increase algal growth. The algae then die and decompose, using up oxygen in the process. In 2015, this so-called “ Dead Zone” was 6,474 square miles - about the size of Connecticut and Rhode Island...
There were two different assessments completed for estuaries of the Northern Gulf of Mexico, one is part of the National Estuary Assessment and the other is a regional estuary assessment. The National Estuary Assessment ranked the condition of Gulf estuaries relative to other estuaries in the contiguous U.S. using a simple index-based approach. The National Estuary Assessment results for the Gulf of Mexico are discussed in both the Eastern Gulf of Mexico and Southern Plains regional sections of this report. The Regional Estuary Assessment used a new detailed approach that fully incorporates fish survey data to better measure the effects of human-caused (anthropogenic) activities on fish habitat and is the prototype...
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