Dams Fish And Fisheries

The importance of free longitudinal passage of river fauna is stressed.

Fish versus Power is an environmental history of the Fraser River (British Columbia) and the attempts to dam it for power and to defend it for salmon. Amid contemporary debates over large dam development and declines in fisheries, this book offers a case study of a river basin where development decisions did not ultimately dam the river, but rather conserved its salmon. Although the case is local, its implications are global as Evenden explores the transnational forces that shaped the river, the changing knowledge and practices of science, and the role of environmental change in shaping environmental debate.

With external financial help and advice, Poland has made great strides toward sustainable growth. The country's currency is stable, its international creditworthiness has been restored, and its private sector now accounts for two-thirds of GDP. This review evaluates the overall relevance, efficacy, and efficiency of World Bank assistance to Poland and finds that the Bank's technical advice and intellectual support were pivotal in facilitating the work of Polish reformers. The book explores various stages in the evolution of the Bank's assistance to Poland: systemic and institutional transformation and social improvement; private sector and infrastructure development; implementation and supervision; and, results and recommendations. Boxes, figures, and tables illustrate the Bank's assistance strategy, including information on the distribution of Bank resources among Central Eastern and European countries, total Bank commitments to Poland by fiscal year, and a summary of the strengths and weaknesses of Bank assistance to Poland.

This paper is concerned specifically with the problems of river fisheries and associated management issues. It deals in particular with the scope for building on traditional practices, through the participation of traditional fishing communities, as a means of improving the quality of river fishery management. The paper reviews the most frequently encountered problems of riverine fisheries such as over-fishing due to population pressure or migration, and artifically induced environmental factors such as dams, pollution and deforestation. It lays stress on the importance of studying fishing communities, as well as strictly biological factors, and presents a four-stage analysis of the evolution of traditional riverine fisheries. Several undesirable consequences of this typical evolution, both on the resource itself and on traditional fishing communities, are identified and illustrated by case studies from the Amazon and the Zambesi. Certain types of traditional management strategies are examined and assessed for their future utility. The current ineffectiveness of many existing government river fisheries management policies is noted, either as a result of lack of resources or because they are inappropriate, often rooted in outdated colonial legislation. The lack of both limited access measures and of participation by local fishing communities are highlighted as major deficiencies. The paper concludes by linking these two features as crucial components of durable river management strategies for the future, although other possibilities for management are also reviewed and assessed. The paper contains a comprehensive bibliography for further reading.