Diaz contributes to White House "dead zone" report
Research by Professor Bob Diaz of the Virginia Institute of Marine Science lies at the heart of a new White House report on the growing problem of low-oxygen marine "dead zones." The report, released today to Congress and the public by the President's Office of Science and Technology Policy, notes that low oxygen dead zones now affect nearly half of the 647 U.S. waterways assessed for the report, up from 38 percent reported in the 1980s.
Diaz was lead author for the report's chapters on the science, economics, and societal impacts of marine dead zones. He was one of only 3 academic researchers involved in the report's development.
The report is the final of 5 reports mandated by Congress in the Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Amendments Act of 2004 and is available online through the White House Office of Ocean Science & Technology.