Water

Dams and Development E-Paper Contents

p. -1 of 74 BACK | NEXT Home Page of Dams and Development Foreword I. Why an e-paper on dams and development? II. Assessing options III. Participatory processes IV. Social impacts V. Environmental impacts VI. Benefit distribution VII. Dam safety and sustainability VIII. Existing projects IX. Improving governance X. What other organizations say XI. ADB, Dams, and Development XII. References Contact Us

Fish passes and reservoir fisheries - do they work?

WDC Guideline #15 on Maintaining Productive Fisheries stresses the importance of fish passes that are designed specifically for the characteristics of the indigenous fish and not transplanting technology from one region to another, as for example passes designed for North American migratory salmonids that leap.

In the case of reservoir fisheries, the guideline proposes that fisheries management objectives for dams include:

• preventing the loss of endangered and/or commercially important fiash biodiversity
• maintaining fish stock abundance
• ensuring the long term sustainability of the catch, employment and income, and;
• producing fish for local consumption and exportable fish products.

More information can be found at:

• WCD Thematic Review II.1 Dams, ecosystem functions and environmental restoration and associated contributing papers
• FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 419: Dams, fish and fisheries - Opportunities, challenges and conflict resolution
• FAO Fisheries Technical Paper 345: Reservoir fisheries of India
• Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), USA. During the summer of 2000 the Office of Energy Projects initiated studies to evaluate the effectiveness of mitigation measures, for resource areas to include water quality, fish passage, shoreline management, and recreation that are frequently included in licenses issued by the Commission. For fish passage, a report, "Evaluation of Mitigation Effectiveness at Hydropower Projects: Fish Passage, Report" was prepared in 2003.
• ICOLD Bulletin 116, 1999. Dams and Fishes - Review and recommendations

Back Dams and Development	Next Contact Us