Policymakers and scientists meet this week in New Orleans to solve some of the big ecological problems facing the Gulf of Mexico.

The meeting, which convenes Tuesday, will focus on the dead zone, a huge area of low-oxygen that plagues the Gulf each summer. The dead zone is caused by the nutrients coming into the Gulf from the Mississippi River. Scientists will present findings to the Gulf of Mexico Alliance, a group founded in 2004 by Gulf state governors.

The Gulf, still recovering from last summer's massive BP PLC oil spill, is stressed each summer by the dead zone. The aim is to get policymakers in the Gulf and in the Mid-West to work together to reduce the amount of urban and agricultural runoff that gets into the Mississippi.