Restoring the health of an aquatic ecosystem

Can we, human beings restore the health of an aquatic ecosystem? It takes time and is dependent on the nature of the disturbance, how much it had been damaged. The effects of dredging, for example, may last from one to several years, but many of the displaced organisms such as fish can re-establish themselves. In other cases, more severe disturbances (e.g., dam construction) causes local extinction of already endangered species. These ecosystems are unlikely to recover naturally but with the help of humans, they may still recover.

In many cases, there are mechanisms that exist and allow us to help restore ecosystem health or minimize detrimental impacts caused by human use. Following are some of these mechanisms that can help to resort the health of an aquatic ecosystem.

Integrated resource planning: This approach ensures that relationships among land use, development, water flows, water quality, and aquatic ecosystems are considered prior to an area's land use designation.

Technology: Measures to improve the quality of waste discharges and to lower both water demands and effluent loading are being implemented in response to environmental and water use concerns.

Environmental monitoring: Monitoring of chemicals in water, sediment, and organisms helps to identify potential ecosystem problems and to track existing problem.

Compensatory measures: For example, a fish hatchery operation can produce young fish that a disturbed habitat can no longer supply, the fish will then live there and compensate for the loss of the dead ones.