Assessing ecological restoration for fish species on torrents in Taiwan

There are many kinds of ecological habitat assessments of streams due to the different regions and localities. This study targets at torrents, which have less contamination and more ecological potential restoration comparing with downstream ones, and chooses Index of Stream Condition (ISC), developed by the State of Victoria in Australia originally. ISC contained physical, chemical, and biological indexes which was easier to be used by engineers especially. The Aquatic Life Sub-index was modified by this research and was represented by fish species. Ten torrents in Taiwan were assessed by this modified method. The modified method could avoid rejecting the ecological conditions of torrents totally as no finding endemic fish species. The results of this study can be applied extensively to evaluate the conditions of fish habitats on torrents in Taiwan for ecological restoration projects.