With funding from NCCOS, a short film, "Understanding Hypoxia: Dead Zones on the Pacific Coast", was produced by Oregon State Productions, a documentary film team at Oregon State University. The film follows researchers and communities working to understand hypoxia and its impacts and is designed to increase public awareness about ocean change.
Focusing on communities in Oregon and Washington, the film explores the impacts of hypoxic events in the tribal waters of the Quinault Indian Nation while also examining effects on the seafood industry, including Oregon Dungeness crab fisherman and fish markets in urban Portland. The film also explores possible solutions; like a unique research partnership between Oregon fishers and scientists who install oxygen sensors on crab pots to gather real-time data on ocean oxygen levels.
This project led by Oregon State University is part of the NCCOS Coastal Hypoxia Research Program. It is working with commercial Dungeness crab fishermen to help detect the onset of hypoxia events to enable adaptive fishing and proactive management of fisheries.