Overview of human health and the ocean: UN Atlas of Oceans
Healthy Ocean, Healthy Humans Harvard Medical School
Dr Mirta Roses, Director of the Pan American Health Organisation
“Red Tide” and Harmful Algal Blooms
'Eutrophication can lead to oxygen depletion (hypoxia) or ‘dead’ zones. Since 1960, when there were 9 documented hypoxic zones, the number of hypoxic areas has doubled every decade. A panel of experts convened under the auspices of the World Resources Institute (WRI) in 2007 identified 415 eutrophic and hypoxic coastal systems worldwide. Of these, 169 are documented hypoxic areas, 233 are areas of concern and 13 are systems in recovery (WRI, 2008). Oxygen depleted zones are now present not only in enclosed Seas, such as the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea, but also in large coastal areas which have internationally important fisheries (GIWA, 2006). Eutrophication is likely to intensify in response to the increased application of fertilizers, growth in the aquaculture industry, increasing quantities of human sewage, the generation of nitrogen from fossil fuel combustion, and potentially as a result of global warming (GIWA, 2006).'
