Abstract:
The formation of hypoxic water zones in marine ecosystems across the world is a growing concern among
marine scientists and regulatory agencies that focus on marine resource management. In the United States,
a number of water systems such as the Gulf of Mexico, Long Island Sound, and the Chesapeake Bay
experience hypoxic conditions annually. Nutrient rich water with excessive nitrogen content is widely
recognized as a key anthropogenic cause that lead to development of hypoxic zones. While the dissolved
oxygen level indicates the presence of hypoxic water conditions, at any given time, the aquatic nitrogen
concentration indicates the possibility of formation of hypoxic zones in future time periods. Hence,
understanding the effects of both these variables on current and future fish population is important for
improved water quality management and sustainability of marine resources. In this paper, we estimate the
temporal effects of these two key variables on lobster harvest from three contiguous fishing zones in the
Long Island Sound that vary in ambient water quality. We find there is no contemporaneous effect of
these variables on harvest in both the zone that experience hypoxia and the two zone that do not. While
there is some evidence of lagged effects of these variables on harvest, no systematic pattern emerges in
these effects that distinguishes the hypoxic fishing zone with non-hypoxic zones.
