ENROLLED
2017 Regular Session
HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOL UTION NO. 65
BY REPRESENTATIVE ZERINGUE
A CONCURRENT RESOL UTION
To express support for the annual Gulf Hypoxia Mapping Cruise conducted by the Louisiana
Universities Marine Consortium (LUMCON), as well as support for continued
funding for this important effort, and to recognize the important role the cruise plays
in understanding and conserving our coastal resources by memorializing the United
States Congress and the Louisiana Congressional delegation to authorize continued
funding for this most important endeavor.
WHEREAS, the growth of a large area of low-oxygen off Louisiana's coast, known
as the Gulf Hypoxic Zone or "Dead Zone", has been a long-standing issue of concern for the
state because of the risks it poses for our commercial and recreational fishing and seafood
industries, and its wider impacts on marine life in the Gulf; and
WHEREAS, the summer cruises to map the Gulf Hypoxic Zone, conducted by
scientists at the LUMCON in Cocodrie, Louisiana, have been carried out each year since
1985, providing a consistent and long-term baseline and record of data on the annual extent
and formation of the zone, which has in turn aided the development of models to predict its
yearly size and future growth; and
WHEREAS, these cruises, utilizing Louisiana scientists, researchers, graduate and
undergraduate students, and cooperating universities and other partners, are the primary
means of measuring the size of the Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Zone and its growth or
reduction, as well as the progress of efforts to reduce it, including the efforts of the
state-federal Gulf Hypoxia Task Force with which the state of Louisiana has been a
participant since 1997; and
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WHEREAS, the LUMCON mapping cruises have been largely funded through the
federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, reflecting the importance of the
Gulf of Mexico Hypoxic Zone and Louisiana's coastal fishery and waters as resources of
national concern; and
WHEREAS, because this federal funding is at risk of discontinuation, and the annual
LUMCON summer mapping cruise was cancelled in 2016 for only the second time in thirty-
one years, the continuation of this vital work is itself at risk.
THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Legislature of Louisiana does hereby
express its support for the annual Gulf Hypoxia Mapping Cruise conducted by the Louisiana
Universities Marine Consortium, in recognition of the important role it plays in the
understanding and conserving of our coastal resources, as well as its support for continued
funding for this important effort by memorializing the United States Congress and the
Louisiana Congressional delegation to authorize continued funding for this most important
endeavor.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be forwarded to the
officers of both houses of the United States Congress and each member of the Louisiana
Congressional delegation.
SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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