(April 24, 2012) The Three Gorges Dam project was supposed to energize the Three Gorges region but a new study from Probe International reveals the dam is jeopardizing a once spectacular gorges region and water tourist idyll, and has drained the area’s vitality, stability and ecology.
(January 6, 2012) The Xiaonanhai hydro project slated for the Yangtze River poses a threat to China’s most precious wild fish and the supremacy of the law, say Chinese environmentalists and scientists.
This Guardian article describes the case of Shennongjia, a region choked with dams, which caused a scandal in the Chinese media when the extent of official corruption and mismangement became clear.
(July 29, 2011) Since the construction of the Gezhouba and Three Gorges dams, Yangtze River’s fish stocks have been declining. The government’s solution – the “Fisherman on Land” program – has forced “boat families,” who once earned a living from the fish bounty of the Yangtze, to move ashore and find work in factories.
(July 19, 2011) China’s weekly newspaper, the Economic Observer, says the Three Gorges dam is the primary reason for the demise of the Yangtze’s “big four” fish species. By changing the hydrological regime downstream of the dam, the fry population of the black, grass, silver, and bighead carp have plummeted by 97%. Attempts to simulate the original hydrological conditions with forced water releases and restocking the river with broodstock will be futile say experts.
(April 19, 2011) China defended its ambitious network of dams Tuesday, saying that it is developing its rivers in a responsible way and would never do anything to harm the interests of neighbours who live downstream of the Tibetan plateau.
(April 7, 2011) Dai Qing, Chinese investigative journalist and Probe International Fellow, delivered the following speech about the Three Gorges Dam project in November 2010 while on a speaking tour in British Columbia, Canada. In her address, she reports that the problems predicted by dam critics published in her books, “Yangtze! Yangtze!” and “The River Dragon Has Come!,” are now coming true.
(January 1, 2009) In The World’s Water 2008-2009, the Pacific Institute’s Dr. Gleick examines the usual anticipated benefits of the Three Gorges Dam: power, navigation and flood control and the growing list of problems — serious impacts on fisheries, coastal erosion due to vastly lower sediment flow in the Yangtze, landslides, earthquakes and social unrest due to the displacement of millions of people.
(February 5, 2007) Sand-dredging and river pollution are threatening the very existence of white fin in the Yangtze River.
(October 25, 2006) The third salt tide to hit Shanghai in six weeks killed fish in two of Pudong’s main rivers, district water authorities said yesterday. And water experts warned of possible water shortages this winter.
(August 7, 2006) Thousands of endangered Chinese sturgeons, equipped with microchips that will record migration patterns, have been released into the Yangtze River. Each fish also carries a tag with a phone number so that, if caught, it can be returned to scientists.
(February 27, 2006) Alarmed by a sharp drop in fish populations, China plans to issue its first-ever ban on commercial fishing along the Yangtze River.
(February 7, 2003) A huge dam near the Grand Canyon in the United States, which has killed off half the native fish species that once thrived downstream, holds lessons for the Three Gorges project.
(April 20, 2001) China’s Three Gorges dam isn’t fully operational yet, but it is already threatening one of the world’s biggest fisheries in the East China Sea. A drop in the amount of fresh water and sediment reaching the sea is to blame.
(December 8, 2000) Illegal fishing and eel catching are being cracked down at the mouth of the Yangtze River by the coast guards and frontier inspection police in Shanghai. The crusade, which began on Wednesday, aims to improve safety along the waterway of the longest river in China.
Patricia Adams
Brady Yauch
Dai Qing
Fan Xiao
Lawrence Solomon
Mu Lan
Lisa Peryman
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