In my Great Problem Seminar: Feed the World class, I am currently researching dead zones in the Delmarva region. My team and I are looking to aid the Chesapeake Bay fisheries, who have seen a serious depletion in their fish intake. The fish, crabs, and other organisms are moving on to other places due to their habitat being overrun by algae blooms. The algae blooms form due to increased levels of nitrogen and other nutrients in the water. Now, the Delmarva region is known for its heavy chicken industry. These chicken farms have large amounts of chicken waste to deal with. To not waste it, they fertilize their grounds with it. However, due to the large amounts of waste, a great deal runs off into local estuaries, which flow into the Chesapeake Bay. This run-off has a high nitrogen content, which then fuels the growth of algae. The algae absorbs all of the dissolved oxygen in the area, as well as cuts off sunlight to the sea grass below. This habitat destruction is why the fisheries have found a decreased amount of fish in the area. It is this issue that my team and I are trying to solve.
Our first plan of action is to make the public aware of the issue. Hopefully, with their help, we can convince state officials of the area to form a stricter set of guidelines which chicken farmers much follow. Presently, the regulations for chicken waste dumpage are very lax and not enforced. By clamping down on how much chicken waste farmers can dump on their fields and into local waterways, we can reduce the nitrogen content of the Chesapeake Bay area, and hopefully enough so that the algae blooms die off and the fish, crabs and other organisms that have been displaced may return home.
Since chicken farmers require excess fields on which to dump their waste, the regulation of the waste dumpage would allow them to either sell the excess fields, or use them for profit. Either way, allowing the chicken waste to be given up, for free. Now, you may be curious as to who would want chicken waste. Most people do not go to the store saying, "Hmmm, I think I'll get some chicken feces today!" However, farmers can use the chicken waste in place of synthetic fertilizers. Therefore, there would be a competitive market for the chicken waste. The enforcement of stricter guidelines for farmers would allow for this new opportunity for entrenpenouers.
Our mechanisms for the enforcement of such rules would be a series of steps. First, we will hand in a report dictating the problem in Delmarva, and provide a set of possible solutions. These will include regulations for farmers, observations from the area, data that would provide recommendations for a certain level of chicken farmer to dispose of their waste in a manner other than fertilization. Second, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) would send inspectors to the farms to make sure that the farmers are disposing of their waste appropriately. If not, a set of fines would be in place. Third, our team is creating a digital story which will help raise awareness about the dead zones in the Chesapeake Bay. It will convey the issue and our goal to solve it.
In order to assess if our work has been of any help to the Delmarva fisheries, we will analyze the nutrient content of the Chesapeake Bay to see if any decrease in the nitrogen content has been seen. We will also check with the EPA to see if farmers are obeying the new regulations and that the run-off has appropriately dissipated. We will also be observing the chicken waste fertilizer market to see if it is competitive and surviving. If all of this is in order, we will know that our work has gone to the betterment of the world.
When my partner, Nate Merrill, first chose this I couldn't believe what I was going to be studying. However, his personal excitement at discovering a hidden patent that would easily burn off the excess chicken waste, showed me that there is more to this science thing after all. I may be a writer, but still, it's kind of neat to know that you could be helping to save the world, right?
So the next time you're near the Chesapeake Bay, check it out! Hopefully by the time you see it, there will be a lot more fish and a lot fewer algae blooms.
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