Humans are discovering one by one the vestiges of once-thriving aquatic life in our nearby coastlines, fishing grounds, and swimming holes. Known to oceanographers as dead zones, there are over 400 vast de-oxygenated belts of water once concentrated with life that now sustain a chilling nothingness. Many dead zones are found to be consequential of global warming, water flow restriction, chemical pollution, gas emissions, and sewage – forces that are themselves attributed to human and industrial influence. They have emerged in the waters surrounding highly industry-dependent nations around the world like the United States. The Gulf of Mexico’s dead zone has swelled to the size of New Jersey. Spreading with viral intensity, it is too late for many creatures whose existence depends on the very thing that is slowly poisoning their bodies. Ironically, fishes suffocate in the waters that once supported their survival. Considering fishing and coastal economies, the aggravation of dead zones will reverberate through these resources and cause financial strife for the whole nation. These dead zones are a devastating sight for mankind to witness, for the forces that cause the decline of aquatic creatures have the potential to be exacerbated beyond control.
