Talk:Gulf of Mexico
From Academic Kids
Hope I am doing everything right. Still quite new to Wikipedia.
I hope many others will add to this article. My initial stab at it was just to give the most basic overview. I grew up on the Gulf Coast, by the way, and intend to live there again one day, thus my interest in this topic.
- Steve
I realize there are many items within my article that could/should become links. Hope to work on that later. Others welcomed to do it!
==================================================================================
Dear Wikipedia== Regarding your statement that there is a great "dead zone" in the Gulf that does not support Sea Life and is turning the Gulf into a "Dead Sea", is not true. The Gulf off the Louisiana Coast supports the most productive sea food fishery on the North American Coast, except for Alaska. It has been termed "The Fertile Crescent" of sea food production. This is not an opinion, it is a fact supported by fifty or more years of records of monthly and annual "landings" of sea food by the commercial fishing boats of the Gulf. These records, available to anyone who uses the internet, are maintained by the U.S. Government and also the Government of Louisiana. Those records show that there has been an increase in the productivity over the years and even until the present. Even with many Louisiana shrimpers not working their boats and nets in 2004, due to the flood of cheap shrimp from Asia, 2004 was still the third best year on record. This productivity is not only wonderful for shrimp but also for fin-fish, such as menhaden, and game fish, but also for crabs. Trucks loaded with crabs for the East Coast are a large and growing business. The nutrients discharged by the Mississippi River and other coastal rivers are carried and distributed by the ocean currents which flow West along the Louisiana and Texas coast and down the coast of Mexico to rejoin the Gulf Stream coming up through the Yucatan Channel and then North East to where it divides South of the Missippi River Delta, the main current proceeding toward Florida, the lesser Current driving West along Louisiana, Texas and Mexico in the same giant eddy.
There exists an organization which wishes to stop the use of fertilizer by the Farmers in the great central river drainage of the Uniteds States, waters from the Mississippi, the Ohio, the Missouri and all of their tributaries. That group are the ones who have originated and distrbuted the "Dead Zone" myth. Regardless of their occasional trips out into the Gulf to lower bottles and take samples, the wonderful and growing productivity of the "dead zone" gives the lie to their agenda. Lucas James
Dear Lucas: You are partially correct. The wetlands of Louisiana have historically contributed to making the area one of the most biologically productive areas in the world. However, the wetlands and nearshore environments are different areas from the hypoxic zone. The hypoxic zone is very large and further offshore. Furthermore, suggesting that all of the researchers involved in documenting the existence of the hypoxic zone would collaborate in a hoax is ludicrous. The hypoxic zone does exist. It has been scientifically documented and verified for several years by many well respected and independent scientists. You should personally contact them to prove to yourself that they are honest people. LUMCON in Chauvin, Louisiana is a great place to start. Look up http://www.lumcon.edu/. I am sure you will find LUMCON much more credible than the mystery “organization which wishes to stop the use of fertilizer.” Kendal
