WA coastal waterways dying

COASTAL waterways in Perth and the South-West are dying from a lack of oxygen, warns a new report on the health of the world's oceans.

In a list of the world's worst-affected coastal areas impacted by hypoxia - where oxygen-hungry bacteria decompose organic matter, creating "dead zones" - 15 are in WA. Dead zones threaten the health of marine ecosystems, killing fish and decreasing the size of their reproductive organs.

They are caused by agricultural run-off, land clearing, industrial pollution, human sewage and climate change.

According to the Ocean Stresses and Impacts report, produced this month by 27 marine scientists from six countries, the WA estuaries suffering from the effects of hypoxia include the Swan and Canning rivers, Peel-Harvey estuary, Moore River, Parry Inlet in Denmark and Beaufort Inlet in the Great Southern.
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