Reversing Marine Dead Zones

Marine dead zones are areas where little or no marine life reside. This is the result of overgrown algae from fertilizer and biowaste run offs enter the oceans. When the algae dies and decomposes, it takes up a lot of oxygen from the water and suffocates or asphyxiates marine life. This is a process called eutrophication. Today, there are up to 405 marine dead zones in the world. The good news is, marine dead zones are not permanent and can be reversed.

What we can do today to reduce eutrophication is by having improved wastewater treatment to reduce the amount of nitrogen and phosphorous entering the oceans. However, what would greatly help in reducing eutrophication is by farmers adopting "no-till" methods. These farming methods skip plowing altogether. Instead, farmers using this method plant new seeds using modern seed drills and deposit fertilizer beneath the soil using fertilizer injectors. This reduces fertilizer run off greatly as the fertilizer is beneath the surface instead of on the soil, which is easily washed off by rainwater.

Stats show that "no-till" methods can reduce phosphorous run off by 40%, half the amount of nitrogen released, as well as reduce overall erosion by 98%. The best part of "no-till" methods is that it produces the same yield while using half the energy.

Unfortunately, most of the world have not adopted this method yet. However, these methods are relatively new and involve advanced equipment that not every farmer has access to. Still, it is great to know that it is possible to reverse the hundreds of marine dead zones that exist in the world today.