Definition: Man-made Environmental Issues
Student’s Name: Alicia Wang
Student ID#: HPCX36921
Teacher: Todd
Due Date: 13 January 2017
Word Count: 1074
Question: What is meant by ‘hypoxia’? Explain with reference to the severity of the problem in your own country.
Currently, the East China Sea is suffering from an issue that there is merelya little oxygen in water, which makes this area dead. This is because of hypoxia which is a terrible disaster for aquatic life, human and ecologicalsystems. Hypoxia means a lack of oxygen which is excessively tough foraquatic species to thrive. It starts in late spring, culminating in midsummer, and vanishing in the autumn (NOAA 2012) (Bowerman 2015). It was scarcein the past; however, it is ordinary currently, and has almost doubled every ten years since the 1960s due to fertilizer runoff and power plants burning fossil fuels (Perlman 2008) occurring in Finland, Ghana, Greece, Peru, Portugal, and Uruguay (China Daily 2006). This essay will explore hypoxiaby examining the East China Sea and its relation to dead zones, to harmful alga boom and why other countries should not follow China’s example to prevent and cure hypoxia.
A simple approach to defining hypoxia is to compare it with ‘dead zones’which was formed by hypoxia. Hypoxia means oxygen depletion, and the aquatic areas which are impaired by hypoxia are called dead zones wheremarine life can hardly survive due to insufficient oxygen (NOAA 2012). Therefore, we see that a dead zone is caused by little oxygen dissolved in this area, which matches the definition of hypoxia; in other words, a dead zone is generated from hypoxia. Taking the Yangtze and Pearl River estuaries of the East China Sea as an example, the majority of oxygen in water was absorbed by harmful algal boom (China Daily 2006). As a result, this area has little dissolved oxygen for animals to survive. Thereforehypoxic areas have formed in the East China Sea on the Yangtze and Pearl River estuaries because of oxygen depletion. This has killed an enormous number of fish, and the residents were forbidden to eat fish for their safety(China Daily 2006); hence the East China Sea is identified as a dead zonewhich arises from hypoxia.
Hypoxia is caused from harmful algal bloom abbreviated as HAB which is one of the most striking indications of hypoxia. The harmful algal bloom is sprawled by nutrition engendered by fertilizers flowing into water, sewage, animal waste, and the oxidizing reaction of fossil fuels. It could absorb a great deal of dissolved oxygen in water and endanger both human and aquatic species, which results in an enormous amount of dead fish floatingon the surface of the water (China Daily 2006). After it booms, the soluble oxygen in water decreases; it produces a hypoxic spot because of the lack of oxygen in water, which indicates that the area has become a dead zone. This demonstrates that HAB replicates a hypoxic spot, called a dead zone. One such harmful algal bloom is the red tide found throughout the East China Sea. Red tides which happened in Zhejiang Province and the Yangtze River estuary of the East China Sea were generated by the pollution from the land (China Daily 2006). The toxic harmful algal bloom assimilates the volume of dissolved oxygen in water, which has created a hypoxic place (also called dead zone), threated over 1,000 square kilometers of water and led to the death of more than twelve million fish (China Daily 2006). Nothing could live in this area due to hypoxia made by the harmful algal bloom, because this area has nearly no oxygen, which is essential and indispensible for animals to survive.
The Chinese government has failed to solve the problem and takeresponsibility. “A red tide expert and senior scientist Donald Anderson cited that, ‘I see a serious problem here in China, and I see every sign that it's going to get worse.’" (Furman 2010). The red tides first appeared in the East China Sea in 1933. Since then, they have continued to expand. With the development of China’s economy and industry, the occurrences of red tides have become increasingly frequent. In 2007, the size of the dead zone was approximately 4,700 square miles, which is nearly as large as Connecticut in the United States. By the end of 2009, it raised to 7,900 square miles, which nearly doubles the size of it in 2007. The dead zone generated from red tides kills thousands of fish and sprawls $100 million loss in fish industry annually. The dead zone not only destroys the marine environment but also human health and tourism due to the toxic red tides with a large sum of bacteria (Furman 2010). However, the Chinese government has been trapped in this problem. When the Chinese government was working on it, the Chinese government rejected to confront the errors, failed to figure out methods to combat the red tides and stop them occurring. For example, the Chinese government accused the red tides on surplus rainfall and ignored700,000 tons wasted water dumped into the East China Sea. Scientists have discussed that using parasites or ozone to destroy the red tides; nevertheless, the two methods could not be implemented owing to a large amount of financial costs and unidentified side-effect (Furman 2010). Thus, the Chinese government ought to focus on this phenomenon quickly and find out effective ways to solve this problem, since it has already caused enormous economic loss and human health damage. Although the China prioritizes the growth of the economy, the action of preventing the red tides should be taken to prohibit further economic loss. China has already set a bad example in the domain of disposing dead zone; as a result other countries who have suffered from hypoxia around the world should refer to the lessons of China to avoid meeting the same flaws.
The contents in this essay explained that the HAB leads to hypoxia, and hypoxia gives rise to dead zones. A hypoxic place was named as a dead zone because nothing could remain alive in that place with little oxygen. A red tide, which is one of the HAB, is a very severe problem in China, because China has undergone tremendous economic loss and has not dealtwith it appropriately. Consequently, China’s way to deal with hypoxia is not a good example to follow, which has inspired a number of countries governments to protect the environment, while developing the economy and industry. Methods such as establishing purification plants and lessening the polluted water dumped into these areas are two such examples of how to prevent and eradicate hypoxia and its side-effects (Furman 2010).
References
Bowerman, M. (2015), What you need to know about toxic algae blooms,USA TODAY [online]. Available from: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2015/08/07/algae-blooms-economy-west-coast-toxic-bloom/31222581/ [Accessed 10 January 2017]
China Daily. (2006), Yangtze and Pearl River Estuaries: 'Dead Zones',China.org.cn [online]. Available from: http://china.org.cn/english/2006/Oct/185357.htm [Accessed 10 January 2017]
Furman, L. (2010). Dead Zones, Confluence. [online]. Available from: https://confluence.furman.edu:8443/display/GGY230F10/Dead+Zones[Accessed 11 January 2017]
NOAA. (2012), National Centers for Coastal Ocean Science Gulf of Mexico Hypoxia Assessment, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [online]. Available from: http://oceanservice.noaa.gov/products/pubs_hypox.html#Introh[Accessed 11 January 2017]
NOAA. (2012), NOAA: Gulf of Mexico ‘dead zone’ predictions feature uncertainty, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration [online]. Available from: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2012/20120621_deadzone.html[Accessed 9 January 2017]
Perlman, D. (2008), Scientists alarmed by ocean dead-zone growth, SFGate[online]. Available from: http://www.sfgate.com/green/article/Scientists-alarmed-by-ocean-dead-zone-growth-3200041.php [Accessed 9 January 2017]
