The Importance of healthy Aquatic Ecosystems

Why is aquatic ecosystem health important to humans? Because everything is connected, where an ecosystem is out of balance eventually humans will begin to suffer as well. Our health and many of our activities are dependent on the health of aquatic ecosystems. Most of the water that we drink is taken from lakes or rivers. If the lake or river system is unhealthy, the water may be unsafe to drink or unsuitable for industry, agriculture, or recreation – even after treatment. Uses of aquatic ecosystems are impaired when these systems are unhealthy. Following are some examples.

• Inland and coastal commercial fisheries have been shut down due to fish or shellfish contamination or the loss of an important species from the system.
• The frequency of urban beach closures has escalated as a result of contamination by animal feces and medical waste.
• Navigation problems for pleasure craft, caused by the rapid expansion of bottom-rooted aquatic plants, have increased.
• The proliferation of non-native species has created problems. One recent example is the rapidly expanding zebra mussel population, introduced from the ballast waters of a European freighter into the Great Lakes. Zebra mussels have few natural predators, and because the female can produce 30 000 eggs yearly, they are expected to spread throughout most of the freshwater systems of North America. This mussel species is already clogging industrial and municipal water treatment intake pipes, coating boats and piers, and causing beach closures.

The above information was provided courtesy of Environment Canada (Learn more by visiting their Aquatic Ecosystems pages at http://www.ec.gc.ca/water/en/nature/aqua/e_aqua.htm)