Effect of Enclosure Culture on Water Quality: A Case Study in Lake Honghu, Hubei Province, China

In this paper, we studied the spatial and temporal change of water quality in Lake Honghu based on long-term monitoring data (1973-2006). Quantitative studies of the relationship between enclosure culture and water quality in lakes were conducted, through analysis of water quality changes in the whole progress of enclosure culture, and comparisons of water quality in enclosure culture area with other areas. The exploitation of Lake Honghu had six different periods starting from the appearance of enclosure culture in the 1980s to its removal in 2005. By analyzing the relationship between the change in area of enclosure culture and the change of water quality, and by analyzing the relationship of spatial distribution between enclosure culture and water quality, this paper concluded that a high intensity closure culture affected the water quality of recent years in Lake Honghu.