Low Oxygen Levels off Coast Raise Fears of Marine Dead Zones

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — Low oxygen levels measured off the coast of Oregon and Washington are raising concerns of large “dead zones” that could decimate crabs and bottom-dwelling fish within them.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said this week that researchers have detected unseasonably low oxygen levels in a large area off the Pacific coast, Oregon Public Broadcasting reported.

Year after year of low oxygen levels beginning in the early 2000s led researchers to determine Oregon now has a “hypoxia season” — just as it has a fire season — and this year’s hypoxia season has arrived far earlier than usual.

The start of the hypoxia season is marked by the upwelling of cold bottom water. Winds initiated that upwelling this year around March. Chan said that’s the earliest Oregon ocean-watchers have seen in 35 years.

That could have major implications for coastal economies, particularly related to the Dungeness crab.

“When it starts really early, we’re giving (oxygen levels) many more months to get lower and (the dead zone to) get bigger in space,” said Francis Chan, who directs the Cooperative Institute for Marine Resource Studies at Oregon State University.

READ MORE at apnews.com

A gray whale emerges from the ocean west of Newport’s Yaquina Bay Bridge. Bruce Mate, a marine mammal expert, thinks whale strandings last year could be a sign the species has rebounded. (Photos by Craig Hayslip, Marine Mammal Institute Oregon State University) whale takes a look at the world above, its left eye showing just above the water’s surface.