Flow modification for flood control – a biodiversity trade-off analysis

No luck with fishing today? This may be due to a dam. Dr Guy Ziv investigated how dams impact fish populations. Built for multiple purposes, including energy production, dams may have harmful socioeconomic effects in regions where fishing is a dominant industry: they prevent fish migration which may lead to the extinction of certain species.
Dr. Ziv focused on a multiple dam plan in the Mekong Basin in South East Asia, where the fishes feed millions of people. He showed that the plan would induce a decrease in the fish population equivalent to thousands of tons of food and concluded: “Some tributary dams can and should be avoided". The damage they would cause would be greater than the additional power produced. The assessment of the pros and cons of dams provided by Dr. Ziv's work may be a valuable tool to support the decisions of policy makers.