US scientists undertook a first assessment of the status of the marshes in June 2003. They found massive but uncoordinated reflooding?EUR??,,????'??+local farmers had begun blowing up dikes and dams after the collapse of the Hussein regime in April 2003?EUR??,,????'??+and noted some reestablishment of native plants. Subsequent monitoring, done in collaboration with Iraqi scientists, estimated overall ecosystem health. Researchers report that 39 percent of the former extent of the marshes had been reflooded by September 2005. The fast recovery of plant production, overall good water quality, and rapid restoration of most wetland functions seem to indicate that the recovery of ecosystem function is well under way.

Richardson and Hussain are not complacent about the marshes?EUR??,,????'??? future, however. The researchers point out that water inflow is unlikely to be sufficient to maintain the encouraging trends in coming years. Fish catches remain poor, which deters many Marsh Arabs from returning to a traditional way of life. Further research is needed?EUR??,,????'??+but is not being done, say Richardson and Hussain?EUR??,,????'??+to determine how the marshes and agriculture can share water, to identify sites of toxins, and to study insecticide use by local fishermen.