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Scientists forecast that this year's Gulf of Mexico dead zone--an area of low to no oxygen that can kill fish and marine life--will be approximately 5,898 square miles or about the size of Connecticut - the same range as it has averaged over the last several years. The dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico affects nationally important commercial and recreational fisheries. Hypoxic zones or "dead zones" are caused by high levels of nutrients, primarily from activities such as industrialized agriculture and inadequate wastewater treatment. [Source: U.S. Geological Survey]
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