Saving fish by removing dams on small rivers - the case of the Upper Yangtze River Basin

Abstract

Dams bring a range of costs and benefits to rivers and the people who depend on those rivers. One of their impacts is a disruption of natural ecosystems and a decline in fish diversity. Hong Xu and Jamie Pittock have analysed the trade-offs between dam construction and the conservation of aquatic biodiversity in the Yangtze River Basin. They found that it was possible to limit the impacts of developments on large, regulated rivers by creating fish reserves on tributary rivers. Here they discuss whats possible, including the option of removing dams from tributary rivers.