VI-105 



and channelization projects, If, In fact, we can reconstruct a marsh 

 ecosystem? Another need Is to establish the time required for an 

 estuary despoiled by over-fertilization and decreased flushing to 

 reestablish a normally diverse flora and fauna upon stopoaqo of 

 nutrient input and increase in flushing rate. This could be accom- 

 plished by constructing experimental embayments using survey data 

 available for known polluted areas; and by developing model analogs 

 based upon existing survey data and experimental results. Progress 

 on reconstruction and rehabilitation of a desooiled estuarine area 

 is based again on the information which would result from exhaustive 

 detailed baseline studies described earlier. 



Ecosystem Management 



The use of systems analysis techniques to determine the effects of 

 various changes in the environment and harvesting technioues on 

 population levels is extremely productive. It seems that some of 

 the very critical problems of estuarine and continental shelf 

 resources, such as trash fishing, may be amenable to such analysis. 

 In no other way can we ever hope to determine what the effect of 

 removal of a certain portion of a population at a given age would 

 have on the ability of the population to survive and multiply. 

 Based on this kind of data, we could satisfy the need to develop 

 better estuarine husbandry programs, and anuaculture might be more 

 profitably and productively pursued. Fish production miqht be 

 Increased by altering currents and by other means, litigating 



