Question regarding problem with dead zones

learned about how excess nutrient supply to surface waters due to fertilizer runoff can cause Dead Zones is coastal waters. Basically, the excess nutrients encourage the growth of phytoplankton near the surface. When these phytoplankton die, their remains sink to the bottom and the organic compounds in them are oxidized, consuming the dissolved oxygen in the water. Without oxygen, life cannot be sustained, and ultimately the food web collapses. So ultimately the fertilizers that were initially used to increase food production on land end up destroying offshore fisheries that are critical for maintaining world food supplies. This is yet another of the difficult quandaries we’ve considered this semester.

What is your take on the trade-off between the need to apply chemical fertilizers in the upper mid-western US vs. the deteriorating seafood catch in the Gulf of Mexico? You could argue this from an economic standpoint, or environmental justice point-of-view, or any other aspect that you think is important. As always, you are expected to use one or more references to information from the module or assigned reading to support your argument.

use the following attached document to answer the question, no need to look up other sources. Also doesn’t need to be a really long, drawn out answer. Just a couple paragraphs or so.