Ocean dead zones spread

livescience.com

Earth's oceans currently have more than 400 dead zones. These are oxygen-starved areas of up to thousands of square kilometres that are nearly devoid of life during summer. Affected areas have doubled every decade since monitoring began in the 1960s, and now scientists believe that climate change, as well as pollution, is creating these dead zones.

Dead zones are now appearing in the Pacific Northwest, a key fishing area. Researchers say climate change is warming the waters off the coast and altering ocean currents, bringing low-oxygen areas closer to shore to suffocate life on the sea floor.