NEW ORLEANS (WGNO) — Scientists released findings showing that the Gulf dead zone west of the Mississippi River is around 4,772 square miles.

The dead zone is an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and marine life. Its size fluctuates throughout the year. Last year, according to their 2024 study, the western dead zone was over 6,700 square miles.

Nancy Rabalais, a professor in the Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences at LSU, focuses her research on the Gulf dead zone and the organisms that live in the sediments on the seabed.

Rabalais said the dead zone forms as a result of nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorous that get funneled from the Mississippi river from agricultural runoff. These nutrients fuel the growth of phytoplankton, which are single-celled plants. When

See Full Page