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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 59(11)

Ecological attributes of a tropical river basin vulnerable to the impacts of clustered hydropower developments

Marcus Sheaves A C , Nguyen Huu Duc B and Nguyen Xuan Khoa B
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A Tropical Estuarine Ecosystems Processes Group, School of Marine and Tropical Biology, James Cook University, Townsville, Qld 4811, Australia.

B Hanoi University of Education, Hanoi, Vietnam.

C Corresponding author. Email: marcus.sheaves@jcu.edu.au

Marine and Freshwater Research 59(11) 971-986 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF08029
Submitted: 11 February 2008  Accepted: 2 August 2008   Published: 27 November 2008

Abstract

The Vu Gia – Thu Bon River Basin in central Vietnam is subject to extensive hydropower development, with eight major and at least 34 minor hydropower installations planned for completion over the next 10 years. This intense clustering of hydropower developments has the potential to impact on aquatic fauna and ecosystems extensively. We sampled freshwater and estuarine fish across the river basin to evaluate the current status of the fish fauna, to determine the extent of zonal and habitat specialisation, to determine the prevalence of migration as a component of life-history strategies, to evaluate the likely magnitude of impacts, and to highlight areas where management intervention is needed and where more extensive study is most urgently required. Given the current high levels of exploitation, the fish fauna appeared surprisingly intact; however, a number of attributes of the fauna, such as the prevalence of migration as a life-history tactic, make this fauna particularly vulnerable to the impacts of hydropower development. Without extensive mitigation, the combinations of habitat alteration in dam and diversion areas and the imposition of a proliferation of barriers to migration will lead to severe population fragmentation, increasing the potential for local extinction, and severely compromise opportunities for recolonisation.

Additional keywords: dams, estuary, fresh water, habitat, migration, Vietnam.


Acknowledgements

This work was logistically supported by the International Centre for Environmental Management and by a grant from the Asian Development Bank. We thank the members of the field team who made the work possible, Jeremy Anderson who supplied GIS support, Peter Ward who provided the hydrological background, and the many departments of the Vietnam government who furnished technical information and reports. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments that greatly improved the finished manuscript. The work required no specific permits or ethics approvals.


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