  Mississippi River nutrient loads and water stratification on the
Louisiana-Texas shelf contribute to an annually recurring, short-lived hypoxic
bottom layer in areas of the northern Gulf of Mexico comprising less than 2% of
the total Gulf of Mexico bottom area. Many publications demonstrate increases
in biomass and fisheries production attributed to nutrient loading from river
plumes. Decreases in fisheries production when nutrient loads are decreased are
also well documented. However, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA) persists in describing the area adjacent to the
Mississippi River discharge as a "dead zone" and predicting dire consequences
if nutrient loads are not reduced. In reality, these areas teem with aquatic
life and provide 70-80% of the Gulf of Mexico fishery production. On June 18,
2013, NOAA published a misleading figure purporting to show the "dead zone" in
an article predicting a possible record dead zone area for 2013
(http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2013/20130618_deadzone.html). This area is
not a region of hypoxic bottom water at all nor is it related directly to 2013
predicted hypoxia. This figure appeared as early as 2004 in a National
Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) article
(http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/environment/dead_zone.html) as a satellite
image where the red area represents turbidity and is much larger than the
short-lived areas of hypoxic bottom water documented in actual NOAA
measurements. Thus, it is misleading for NOAA to characterize the red area in
that image as a "dead zone." The NOAA has also published other misleading and
exaggerated descriptions of the consequences of nutrient loading.
