"Near-Record 'Dead Zone' Forecast Off US Gulf Coast, Threatening Fish"

"A near record-sized “dead zone” of oxygen-starved water could form in the Gulf of Mexico this summer, threatening its huge stocks of marine life, researchers said.

The area could spread over 8,700 square miles (22,500 square km), scientists at Louisiana State University said on Monday - about the size of the state of Massachusetts, and five times the average.

Experts blamed unusually high rainfall across the U.S. Midwest this Spring that washed farm fertilisers along streams and rivers through the Mississippi River Basin out into the Gulf."

Rich McKay reports for Reuters June 11, 2019.

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"‘A Major Punch In The Gut’: Midwest Rains Projected To Create Near-Record Dead Zone In Gulf" (Washington Post)