The plan calls for adding more money to State and Federal programs aimed at improving water quality. The action plan lays out a number of goals and specific actions for addressing hypoxia, aimed at reducing the zone from a current 5-year average of about 14,000 square kilometers to about 5,000 square kilometers. The measured size in 2000 was about 4,000 square kilometers.
Hypoxia is a condition of decreased levels of dissolved oxygen in the bottom waters.
The plan is built on the principles of encouraging actions that are voluntary, practical and cost-effective and using existing State and Federal programs. Implementation of the action plan will depend largely upon how it is viewed by Congress and the incoming Bush Administration. The plan is the culmination of more than 4 years of debate and work. Seven separate scientific assessments, followed by an integrated assessment and a draft action plan preceded this final product. The debate has been controversial at times because of a focus on the role of nitrogen fertilizer.