In fact, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is expected to impose the first coast wide limits on the number of traps lobstermen can drop in an effort to protect the rapidly diminishing population of marine animals. And down in the Gulf of Mexico, an area as big as New Jersey is dead. And it's causing a war between Midwestern farmers and fishermen in the Gulf. A study released by the Clinton administration says the chief source of the dead zone is upriver on the Mississippi at the hog farms in Iowa and fields in Illinois saturated with fertilizers and pesticides. Farmers want to be paid for any land they take out of production.
Nitrogen fertilizers make plants grow, including huge algae blooms.
As algae thrives, spreads, dies and sinks to the bottom, it removes oxygen from water. Some marine animals that are agile such as shrimp and fish can get out of oxygen-deprived water quickly. But slower animals such as snails and crabs die. This year the dead zone covered 7,728 square miles and is expected to be larger next year. Even the Gulf fishermen are asking the government to help.