Read the passage below carefully and evaluate the statement that follows.
For decades, the artisanal peri-urban fisherfolk of the Cross River estuary relied on seasonal inundation cues to regulate their harvest of mangrove oysters. Traditional ecological management dictated that harvesting ceased entirely during the onset of the early rains, allowing bivalve larvae to spat and settle on exposed prop roots. However, recent commercial dredging operations designed to deepen navigation channels for deep-sea container vessels have significantly altered tidal flow velocities and salinity gradients across the inner estuary. The resultant intrusion of high-salinity seawater into upper estuarine creeks has accelerated the proliferation of predatory marine gastropods, which predate heavily on juvenile oyster stocks. Concurrently, localized industrial effluent discharge has elevated trace metal concentrations in the benthic sediments, further compromising larval viability. While municipal authorities attribute the sharp decline in annual oyster yields primarily to overharvesting by local communities, hydrological data indicate that spat mortality rates remained beneath critical thresholds prior to the commencement of channel widening. Consequently, community-led rotational harvesting bans, though strictly enforced by traditional councils, have failed to arrest the stock collapse.
STATEMENT: It can be inferred from the passage that anthropogenic modification of the estuarine hydrology disrupted the ecological context required for traditional conservation practices to remain effective.
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