Mekong River Power Plants 'Catastrophic' To Fish: Study

[webfact]

Mekong river power plants 'catastrophic' to fish: study

WASHINGTON, March 6, 2012 (AFP) - Plans to build hydropower plants along Southeast Asia's longest river could have devastating effects on the world's largest inland fishery and should be reconsidered, scientists said on Monday.

Plenty of attention has focused on plans to develop dams along the main stem of the 4,600 kilometer (2,850 mile) Mekong River which passes through China, Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.

But the international study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences examined the impact of building dams on dozens of the smaller branches, known as tributaries.

Since the area is home to many species of migratory fish, the analysis found that several dam projects could block fish from swimming upstream and cause massive losses to diversity and fish supply.

This could have devastating effects on the tens of millions of rural, poor residents in the region who depend on subsistence fishing for their main source of food, said scientists from Cambodia's Inland Fisheries Research and Development Institute and Stanford and Princeton University.

More than one million tons of freshwater fish are caught each year in the Cambodian and Vietnamese floodplains, and the entire Mekong River Basin is home to 65 million people, about two-thirds of whom rely on fishing to survive.

"We find that the completion of 78 dams on tributaries, which have not previously been subject to strategic analysis, would have catastrophic impacts on fish productivity and biodiversity," said the study.

"Our results argue for reassessment of several dams planned, and call for a new regional agreement on tributary development of the Mekong River Basin."

Specifically, four planned dams were found to create the largest fish biomass losses, including the Lower Se San 2 in Cambodia (9.3% drop in fish biomass basin-wide), Se Kong 3d (2.3%), Se Kong 3u (0.9%), and Se Kong 4 (0.75%) in Laos.

Those projects were among 27 dams focused on by the team because they have construction planned between 2015 and 2030 and their future remains up in the air.

In all, the researchers identified 877 fish species in the Mekong River Basin, 103 of which would be potentially blocked from making their upstream migrations by hydropower development.

Tributary dams fall under national laws and do not require international agreement, even though building these dams could have "potentially significant transboundary impacts" on fish in other countries' waters, said the study.

-- (c) Copyright AFP 2012-03-06

[belg]

so more greed over common sense to create green non pollution electricity for all... those fisheries are the dirties places anywhere... fish eat heavy contaminated food and feces

[Reasonableman]

so more greed over common sense to create green non pollution electricity for all... those fisheries are the dirties places anywhere... fish eat heavy contaminated food and feces

Troll. The article cites subsistence fishing, not fish farming. And what do you think, pigs, chickens, birds, dogs, etc., eat? Manna from Heaven?

Edited March 6, 2012 by Reasonableman

[folium]

so more greed over common sense to create green non pollution electricity for all... those fisheries are the dirties places anywhere... fish eat heavy contaminated food and feces

"Green, non-pollution electricity" (sic)?

Nice try, seems like you need to go back to school for a few geography lessons on the impact of dams, and pros and cons of immigration while you are about it.

[Reasonableman]

so more greed over common sense to create green non pollution electricity for all... those fisheries are the dirties places anywhere... fish eat heavy contaminated food and feces

"Green, non-pollution electricity" (sic)?

Nice try, seems like you need to go back to school for a few geography lessons on the impact of dams, and pros and cons of immigration while you are about it.

Belg: please never let ignorance prevent you from having and expressing an opinion.

[mayday49]

Well, what now?

[mayday49]

This post has been removed because reasonable men topic hogs.....

[folium]

so more greed over common sense to create green non pollution electricity for all... those fisheries are the dirties places anywhere... fish eat heavy contaminated food and feces

Check out this link for a more informed view on the impact of the Pak Moon dam in Thailand on the local fishing industry.

http://www.immf.or.th/articles/moonmekong.html

Ironically dams contribute to the pollution of river systems due to the fact that they trap pollutants and waste behind the dam. Another issue being faced by the TGD in China.

[Reasonableman]

This post has been removed because reasonable men topic hogs.....

Nice consecutive posts. anything on topic to contribute?

[folium]

so more greed over common sense to create green non pollution electricity for all... those fisheries are the dirties places anywhere... fish eat heavy contaminated food and feces

"Green, non-pollution electricity" (sic)?

Nice try, seems like you need to go back to school for a few geography lessons on the impact of dams, and pros and cons of immigration while you are about it.

Talking of school here's a quick true or false quiz on damming the Mekong. Give it a go...

http://www.cbd.int/programmes/areas/water/toolkit/html/1.13.8b_self_study.html

[billd766]

so more greed over common sense to create green non pollution electricity for all... those fisheries are the dirties places anywhere... fish eat heavy contaminated food and feces

"Green, non-pollution electricity" (sic)?

Nice try, seems like you need to go back to school for a few geography lessons on the impact of dams, and pros and cons of immigration while you are about it.

Talking of school here's a quick true or false quiz on damming the Mekong. Give it a go...

http://www.cbd.int/p...self_study.html

I got 8 out of 10.

[toybits]

Furthermore, dams remove the rapids which are the lungs of rivers. Rapids incorporate oxygen into the river water which is why fish can breath. With out rapids, the slow moving water will not have enough turbulence to add oxygen to the water. When organic matter settles to the bottom, it robs the water of the precious little oxygen in the water. So in the end - you have a dead pool of water.

[sparebox2]

Now I know why so many red minced fish (tod mun pla) is for sales in Thailand.

They already been through the Dam's turbine.

[sauvagecheri]

My humble opinion ,we need LESS of those things ,less dams ,less cars ,less people,less industry ,and humans need to do LESS the more we interfere with things especially nature ,the more we get into problems we need to rethink EVERYTHING ,we are making a humongus mess of things ,most probably driven by profit motives than anything else ,It is not sure at this point that we can keep this game going much longer at the rate we are multiplying and gobbling up ressources .Unsustainable !

We have created a monster and it will destroy us slowly but surely if this keeps up much longer ....

Any doubts ?Check "The scariest video" in youtube .

Edited March 7, 2012 by sauvagecheri

[DeepInTheForest]

Noteworthy that this article comes not from a Western NGO but from a Cambodian group along with academics from Princeton and Stanford. Obviously, no article, regardless of the source, is unimpeachable or beyond questioning.

I find it curious and also somewhat infuriating that the full-text article is not available for free download.

http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/03/05/1201423109.abstract

Isn't the National Academy of Sciences taxpayer-supported? You would think they would make this information available to the public at no charge, particularly when it is of this importance.

[folium]

Noteworthy that this article comes not from a Western NGO but from a Cambodian group along with academics from Princeton and Stanford. Obviously, no article, regardless of the source, is unimpeachable or beyond questioning.

I find it curious and also somewhat infuriating that the full-text article is not available for free download.

http://www.pnas.org/...423109.abstract

Isn't the National Academy of Sciences taxpayer-supported? You would think they would make this information available to the public at no charge, particularly when it is of this importance.

Relax DintF!

Reopen your link, look for text box top right (one in) headed This Article. Tab down to Full Text PDF and hey presto.

Just reading it now!