09/30/09 Portland, OR
Color 3D image of observed oxygen readings taken by Phoebe over the Washington coast bathymetry. Red represents higher levels of oxygen in the water. Blue represents lower oxygen levels. View more images.
In the summer of 2006, marine life was devastated by hypoxia, low-oxygen, in the coastal waters of the Quinault Indian Nation (QIN). Bottom fish were strewn across beaches. Crab pots were filled with dead crustaceans. The fishing economy that the Quinault people depend on was threatened by a hypoxic event.
Today the tribe is gaining a better understanding of hypoxia in their coastal waters with assistance from the Center for Coastal Margin Observation & Prediction (CMOP).
Coastal hypoxia is caused by oxygen depletion in coastal waters due to microbial respiration of organic matter. When temperature and water column mixing create conditions of high oxygen removal the environment becomes inhospitable for fish and mammals.