Balancing Agricultural Needs with Environmental Protection in the Gulf of Mexico
Release Date: 07/01/2024
Whose Dinner Becomes Fish Feed?
How To Protect The Ocean
On a May morning in 2017, the people of Gunjur in The Gambia woke to find their lagoon had turned red, with dead fish on the surface. Investigators traced the pollution to a fishmeal plant up the road. In this episode, Andrew Lewin follows the feed from West African beaches to farmed salmon fillets in Europe and North America, building on The Outlaw Ocean Project’s five-year investigation into the fishmeal industry. Small, oily fish like sardinella and bonga are everyday protein in Senegal and The Gambia. Fishmeal plants buy them in unlimited volumes, outbid the women who have smoked and...
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The Fish That Feed Your Fish: What Farmed Salmon Really Eat
How To Protect The Ocean
The family behind the world’s largest salmon farming company built a global industry. Now one of its members is asking how it can be sustainable to grind up fish from poorer countries, ship them across the world, and feed them to salmon sold to wealthier shoppers. In episode 2048, Andrew Lewin follows farmed fish from your plate back to the fishmeal boat to answer him. More than half the seafood eaten worldwide now comes from farms, and most of it is fed. Andrew breaks down what fishmeal and fish oil are made of, why roughly a fifth of the global wild catch ends up as feed, and how forage...
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What Your Farmed Salmon Ate: Inside a Five-Year Fishmeal Investigation
How To Protect The Ocean
More than half the seafood eaten on Earth now comes from fish farms, and most of those farmed fish are raised on fishmeal made from wild-caught fish. Maya Martin, deputy editor at The Outlaw Ocean Project, joins Andrew Lewin to unpack Food for Feed, a five-year investigation that traced fishmeal from the ships that catch it, through the plants that grind it, to the farmed fish on your plate. Maya explains how forage fish like sardinella and anchoveta are pulled from waters off West Africa, Peru and Southeast Asia, often from stocks that are already overexploited and from communities that...
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How to Read the Seafood Counter Like a Marine Biologist
How To Protect The Ocean
Picture a big sign over the seafood counter promising sustainable fishing, with a fish every independent guide says to avoid sitting on ice right below it. In most countries nobody broke a rule, because the word "sustainable" on seafood has no legal definition. In this final episode of our sustainable seafood week, Andrew Lewin walks you through how to see past that sign and choose seafood you can feel good about. You'll learn how to use the eco-labels and seafood guides that have already done the research for you, including the Marine Stewardship Council's blue tick for wild seafood, the...
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Is Bottom Trawling Always Bad? It Depends Where
How To Protect The Ocean
Off the south coast of England, about 100 kilometres out, sits Haig Fras, a granite reef covered in jewel anemones and cup corals. For years it was protected on paper, yet heavy fishing gear could still drag across it. In March 2024, that finally changed. In this episode, Andrew Lewin explains why where we fish matters as much as how much we fish, and what it takes to turn a line on a map into real protection. Andrew breaks down the difference between midwater and bottom trawls and puts the damage shown in the recent Ocean documentary into context. Bottom trawling lands about a quarter of the...
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The Trapdoor That Saves Sea Turtles From Shrimp Nets
How To Protect The Ocean
A Kemp’s ridley sea turtle, the most endangered sea turtle on Earth, gets swept into a shrimp trawl. It hits a metal grid, slides out through a flap in the net, and swims away. That small trapdoor, the turtle excluder device, is one of the biggest success stories in fisheries management, and in late August 2026 a US federal appeals court upheld the rule extending it to skimmer trawl boats 40 feet and longer. In this episode, marine biologist Andrew Lewin walks through the bycatch fixes that are working and the fights still underway. You’ll hear why North Atlantic right whales get tangled...
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The Cod Came Back: What a Fishery Collapse Teaches Us About Overfishing
How To Protect The Ocean
Five centuries ago, explorers off Newfoundland described cod so plentiful that a weighted basket lowered into the sea came back full. By July 2, 1992, so few remained that Canada shut the northern cod fishery overnight. About 30,000 people lost their work in what became the largest single layoff in Canadian history. In this first episode of a week-long sustainable seafood series, Andrew tells the story of how the collapse happened and how slowly the cod came back. Andrew then breaks down the words that cause the most confusion in fisheries headlines: overfishing, overfished, depleted, and...
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How to Choose Sustainable Seafood
How To Protect The Ocean
You want to eat seafood the right way. Then you hit the seafood counter and face a wall of labels, a sign promising “sustainable practices,” and an employee who has no idea where the tuna came from. Add documentaries like Seaspiracy telling you to quit fish entirely, and it’s tempting to give up and buy whatever looks good. Unsustainable fishing is the biggest threat to marine biodiversity, so those choices carry real weight. In this episode, Andrew’s good friend Dr. David Shiffman joins the show to talk about his new book, Why Sustainable Seafood Matters. David spent two years on the...
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Slow Down for Whales: How Global Shipping Learned to Share the Ocean
How To Protect The Ocean
Blue whales can’t dodge ships. When scientists tracked blue whales alongside cargo ships off Southern California, the whales responded in just over half the encounters, and every response was the same: a slow, shallow dive. Not once did a whale move sideways out of the ship’s path. Models suggest ships kill around 18 blue whales a year off the U.S. West Coast, nearly eight times what the population can lose and still recover. The good news is in the data. Most blue whale strike deaths happen in a small slice of ocean, and that’s where ports, air quality agencies, marine sanctuaries, and...
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When Whale Food Moves: Climate Change, Crab Traps, and Pop-Up Gear
How To Protect The Ocean
In 2014, a patch of unusually warm water nicknamed "the blob" settled off the west coast of North America. The cold, food-rich water that normally stretches far offshore shrank into a narrow strip along the coast, and hungry humpback whales followed their food straight into the waters where Dungeness crabbers had set thousands of traps, each tied to a vertical rope. Entanglements jumped from about 10 a year to 53 in 2015 and 55 in 2016. In this episode, Andrew traces the line from warmer water to a specific whale in a specific rope. You'll learn why lunge-feeding whales depend on dense patches...
info_outlineAndrew Lewin delves into the issue of the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico caused by runoff from the Mississippi River. Despite efforts to reduce nitrates and phosphates by 20% by 2025, it appears that targets may not be met. Andrew shares his personal and professional connection to this topic, having worked on the hypoxic zone early in his career. Tune in to learn more about the challenges facing the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico and how you can take action to protect our oceans.
Link to article: https://www.kcur.org/news/2024-06-24/as-conservation-in-agriculture-lags-so-does-the-progress-in-slashing-the-gulfs-dead-zone
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The Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone is a critical environmental issue primarily caused by runoff from the Mississippi River. This runoff carries excessive nutrients, such as nitrogen and phosphorus, from agricultural activities along the river's basin. Upon reaching the Gulf of Mexico, these nutrients fuel the growth of phytoplankton, leading to massive algal blooms. Subsequently, these blooms die and sink to the ocean floor, where bacteria decompose them. This decomposition process consumes oxygen, creating a hypoxic or "dead zone" where oxygen levels are too low to support marine life.
The size of the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico fluctuates annually but has been on an upward trend, indicating a worsening situation. This zone poses a significant threat to marine ecosystems by depriving fish, invertebrates, and other marine organisms of the oxygen they need to survive. The expansion of the hypoxic zone is a direct result of human activities, particularly agricultural practices contributing to nutrient runoff into the Mississippi River.
Efforts to address the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone include implementing conservation practices to reduce nutrient runoff. These practices, such as cover crops, reduced tillage, and no-till farming methods, aim to minimize the amount of fertilizers and chemicals entering waterways. While some progress has been made in reducing nitrogen loads in the Mississippi River, phosphorus loads have worsened, indicating the need for more comprehensive and effective conservation measures.
It is crucial to collaborate with local farmers to promote sustainable agricultural practices that protect water quality and reduce nutrient pollution. By investing in conservation programs, providing technical assistance, and incentivizing farmers to adopt environmentally friendly practices, we can mitigate the harmful effects of nutrient runoff on the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem. Ultimately, addressing the Gulf of Mexico hypoxic zone requires a multi-faceted approach that prioritizes environmental conservation, sustainable agriculture, and the protection of marine biodiversity.
Efforts to reduce nitrogen and phosphorus in the Mississippi River have been crucial in addressing the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. However, as highlighted in the podcast episode, these efforts have not met the targets set to reduce the nutrient loads entering the river system. Despite some implemented practices showing promise, such as cover crops that help absorb excess nutrients to prevent runoff, there are other practices exacerbating the issue.
One concerning practice mentioned in the episode is the over-fertilization of corn acres along the Mississippi River. Farmers, driven by the belief that more fertilizer leads to higher yields, continue to apply excessive amounts of nitrogen and phosphorus to their crops. This over-fertilization contributes to the nutrient loads entering the river, ultimately fueling the growth of phytoplankton in the Gulf of Mexico and leading to the formation of the hypoxic zone.
Moreover, the increase in the number of US acres drained with underground tubes, which act as conduits for runoff into streams and rivers, has further exacerbated the problem. The expansion of this infrastructure facilitates the rapid transport of nutrients from agricultural lands into water bodies, including the Mississippi River, intensifying the nutrient pollution issue.
These findings underscore the complexity of addressing nutrient pollution in the Mississippi River and the Gulf of Mexico. While some conservation practices have shown positive results in reducing nutrient runoff, the persistence of harmful practices like over-fertilization and the expansion of drainage systems pose challenges to achieving the desired reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus levels. It is evident that a comprehensive and collaborative approach involving farmers, policymakers, and conservationists is essential to effectively tackle the nutrient pollution problem and protect the health of the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem.
Collaboration with local farmers is essential for improving water quality in the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico. The episode highlights the significant impact of agricultural runoff, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizers, on the hypoxic zone in the Gulf of Mexico. These nutrients lead to excessive phytoplankton growth, which, when decomposed, depletes oxygen levels in the water, creating a hypoxic environment unsuitable for marine life.
Implementing conservation practices, such as cover crops and reduced tillage, can help mitigate nutrient runoff from farms into water bodies. However, the episode also acknowledges the challenges faced by farmers, such as reduced crop yields with certain conservation practices. This highlights the importance of providing support and incentives for farmers to adopt sustainable practices that benefit both their livelihoods and the environment.
The episode discusses various initiatives and investments by government agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service, to promote conservation programs and technical assistance for farmers in the Mississippi River basin states. These programs aim to reduce nutrient loss and improve water quality through practices like installing saturated buffers and bioreactors.
Furthermore, the episode emphasizes the need for continued collaboration and communication with local farmers to address harmful agricultural practices and promote sustainable solutions. By working together with farmers, researchers, and policymakers, it is possible to implement effective strategies that protect water quality in the Mississippi River and Gulf of Mexico, benefiting both the environment and the communities that rely on these water bodies for their livelihoods.