Is there a way to reverse trends of eutrophication or the damage caused to an estuary?
SUZANNE BRICKER: Yes Kate, there is, but the only way to reverse or limit the impacts of eutrophication is to reduce the amount of nutrients that are added to a water body. This can be done by decreasing or more efficiently using fertilizer or, for example, by adding buffer strips at the edge of farm fields so that the nutrients don’t actually reach the water body. An alternative complimentary way to reduce algal growth within the water body is to have large populations of oysters or clams. And as an example in Chesapeake Bay, there use to be very large, thriving populations of oysters which filtered the water body and kept the Chesapeake Bay waters clearer. When those oysters died, that’s when the Chesapeake Bay started having problems, in addition to the fact that there were more nutrients entering the system. But, an alternative method, or complimentary to the usual way of reducing nutrients, is to promote the growth by shellfish farming maybe or encouraging natural populations and
