11–20 of 72 posts
I grew up in a small town in the PNW that has a yearly salmon festival, and it wasn't until a post from HN[1] that I learned/realized that the whole system of "fish hatcheries" that my town celebrated is kind of a horrible bandaid over the ecological disaster we perpetrated. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21298472 , definitely worth a read if you care about salmon
It's nice and all, but it is unlikely to lead to a returning salmon population. Even if the spawn make it through the dams, they won't be able to come back when they reach spawning age. They need to invest tons of money in salmon ladders and naturalization, for example, like we are doing in BC. That would be quite the project for the Grand Coulee dam, as I remember it being quite large. Hopefully this is the first st…
If native populations are going to come back and be sustainable we have to tear down the damns. I realize that causes other political issues but that's the only way we're going to have native populations. I'm an avid fisherman and really LOVE fish. They're amazing animals. Fisherman have a connection to nature that just can't be appreciated unless you have spent significant time on the water. Fish are SMART, they're…
However, most small and mid sized dams should be removed as they harm wildlife and are often a safety issue for the general public.
PS: In terms of supporting evidence. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S092585741...
Readers may also find this review of methods of building salmon-friendly dams interesting: https://spo.nmfs.noaa.gov/sites/default/files/pdf-content/mf...
We must learn to live with hydro power and dams. It’s such an incredible and clean source of energy. It’s low maintenance and has a high duty cycle, with only nuclear being a more consistent. Dams are also how many parts of the US irrigate crops for our food.
In 2019, only 18 salmon returned to the lake.
Further 4 dams in the Snake River are not used for hydro power, nor are they for flood control. They were used to try to make Idaho a major sea port -- despite the fact that Idaho is several hundred files from the ocean.
https://discoversawtooth.org/what-happened-to-the-red-fish-o...
Hydro is a double edged sword. Washington produces 70% of its energy from clean hydro, and supplies almost a quarter of the nation’s hydro power. Nothing is free.
Downstream survival rates for juvenile fish are in the high 90s for all the dams on the lower Columbia. [1] Grand Coulee produces more energy than any hydro project in North America so I expect it's worth keeping around even if we have to make some modifications to improve survival rates on the upper Columbia.
[1] https://www.bpa.gov/news/pubs/FactSheets/fs-201306-Columbia-...
It's nice and all, but it is unlikely to lead to a returning salmon population. Even if the spawn make it through the dams, they won't be able to come back when they reach spawning age. They need to invest tons of money in salmon ladders and naturalization, for example, like we are doing in BC. That would be quite the project for the Grand Coulee dam, as I remember it being quite large. Hopefully this is the first st…
It's nice and all, but it is unlikely to lead to a returning salmon population. Even if the spawn make it through the dams, they won't be able to come back when they reach spawning age. They need to invest tons of money in salmon ladders and naturalization, for example, like we are doing in BC. That would be quite the project for the Grand Coulee dam, as I remember it being quite large. Hopefully this is the first st…
It's nice and all, but it is unlikely to lead to a returning salmon population. Even if the spawn make it through the dams, they won't be able to come back when they reach spawning age. They need to invest tons of money in salmon ladders and naturalization, for example, like we are doing in BC. That would be quite the project for the Grand Coulee dam, as I remember it being quite large. Hopefully this is the first st…
If native populations are going to come back and be sustainable we have to tear down the damns. I realize that causes other political issues but that's the only way we're going to have native populations. I'm an avid fisherman and really LOVE fish. They're amazing animals. Fisherman have a connection to nature that just can't be appreciated unless you have spent significant time on the water. Fish are SMART, they're…
It's nice and all, but it is unlikely to lead to a returning salmon population. Even if the spawn make it through the dams, they won't be able to come back when they reach spawning age. They need to invest tons of money in salmon ladders and naturalization, for example, like we are doing in BC. That would be quite the project for the Grand Coulee dam, as I remember it being quite large. Hopefully this is the first st…
We don't need to make such a large investment. I, for one, am satisfied with the ecology today and would rather have lower electricity rates and get people into electric cars and off gas heat.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If native populations are going to come back and be sustainable we have to tear down the damns. I realize that causes other political issues but that's the only way we're going to have native populations. I'm an avid fisherman and really LOVE fish. They're amazing animals. Fisherman have a connection to nature that just can't be appreciated unless you have spent significant time on the water. Fish are SMART, they're…
Honestly, if the choice is removing the dams and moving to more polluting energy forms, or letting the fish go extinct, I think letting the fish go extinct is the best choice at this time. Maybe we freeze their fertilized eggs and reintroduce them at some point in the future when climate change has been reversed.
I would rather you pay more and pay the full costs of your electrical use. Use solar, wind or invest in a nuclear plant if removing carbon is imported.
Causing extinction in the name of climate change when really it's about cheaper prices is a non-starter.