Abstract
The expansion of hydropower in Sweden has had a major impact on many fish populations and has led to reduced opportunities for migration and less available stream habitat. In order to improve the environment in watercourses that are affected by hydropower, the government has decided that hydropower should be reassessed to follow modern environmental standards. The water authorities have proposed measures to improve connectivity at many of the power plants / dams to improve the conditions for fish stocks, in order to achieve the environmental quality standard good ecological status or potential. The hydropower expansion is based on damming of rapids to create drop heights that generate energy production, which has resulted in stream environments for fauna being in short supply in hydropower-regulated watercourses. It is therefore not obvious that connectivity measures in all situations would largely benefit stream living fish populations. To investigate whether new establishment or improvement of fishing routes is expected to lead to improved environmental status, it is proposed here that mathematical models of fish populations be used. Five different models have been developed to be able to cover different scenarios for most of the Swedish fish species that either migrate to and play in stream water or migrate via watercourses to reach spawning areas in adjacent water bodies. This report describes a number of population models that are particularly well suited for evaluating measures that improve migration opportunities and that create suitable stream habitats for fish. In addition to the report, there are separate calculation tools - based on these models - that can be used to evaluate management actions in specific watercourses. The tools are interactive and are available to everyone on Energiforsk's website. These population models are described in a Swedish extended summary, Energiforskrapport 2021:780 Modellering av fiskvägars betydelse – en sammanfattning.
| Original language | Swedish |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Energiforsk |
| Number of pages | 106 |
| ISBN (Print) | 978-91-7673-765-1 |
| Publication status | Published - 2021 |
UN SDGs
This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
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SDG 14 Life Below Water
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