Indiana River Lagoon Analysis

The two articles that I will be summarizing are the Indiana River Lagoon: What went wrong (Dead Zone) and Is Sustainable-Labeled Seafood Really Sustainable. The Sustainable Seafood article really interest me because I love to eat seafood and I want to protect the resources of the ocean so that the next generation can enjoy its bounty as well. It really upset me to know that Marine Stewardship Council is mislabeling products causing prices fluctuate. Although the MSC is a non-profit organization I believe that they are using their position to influence prices and receive kick-backs from different fisheries. The term use in the article is “greenwashing,” which means that they label produces as “good for the environment” when in all actuality it is not. In this article, the author mentions that McDonald’s claims to sell Alaskan Pollock on their Fillet-O-Fish sandwiches. Coincidentally, the MSC has labeled this fish as “certified sustainable.” The first problem I see is that the MSC has no data to support their claim that the fish in question is being sustained. However, I can guarantee that somewhere down the line McDonalds (a billion dollar industry) is …show more content…
Garrett Smith. This article is speaks about how human nitrogenous waste pollutes the oceans causing the nitrogen fixing phytoplankton to exponentially grow. This is a problem because when they decompose it takes away mass quantities of oxygen in the ocean, which is need for respiration for many different organisms. Although humans are to blame for many of the world’s problems, in my research with Dr. Smith, I read about a coral disease called Aspergillus. This is a fungus that kills off coral and it comes from the sand of the Sahara Desert being carry via wind patterns to the ocean. This is a big problem because coral reefs have a vast diversity of species that utilize them to survive and is apart of a very intricate food