Impact of Environmental Challenges on Aquatic Productivity

Aquatic resources do not operate within a stable environmental context. Environmental variation has overwhelming effects on these resources and on the ecosystem that support them. In considering environmental variation as they affect aquatic resources (emphasis on fish resources) the physical, ecological, political and socio-cultural factors are highlighted as important variable in the degradation of the aquatic environment in Nigeria. One of the threats to the anticipated increase in aquatic production in Nigeria today, particularly, the highly valued fin and shell fishes, has been a sustained degradation of the environments. The various aquatic environment utilizable and considered suitable for aquatic production has been negatively affected by uncontrolled and uncoordinated industrial, agricultural, domestic and chemical effluent discharges through human activities. This paper examines the effects of a continued environmental degradation on aquatic living resources in inland waters that have hitherto hindered the capacity of the ecosystems for a sustainable fish production, suggestions are made to control the present trend of negative environmental effects on inland aquatic living resources.