https://e360.yale.edu/features/northeast-dam-removals
"The glass eels, 3 inches long with skin so translucent it reveals the beating
of their tiny hearts, writhe with unexpected strength in the palm of a hand.
For a year they have ridden the tides from their hatching site, in the Sargasso
Sea, to the mouth of upstate New York’s Saw Kill Creek, a narrow tributary of
the Hudson River. That’s where a fyke net set out by biologists, counting
migratory American eels as they seek clear and flowing creeks in which to
mature, captures them.
Although not considered endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service,
American eels have for decades been tallied at historically low numbers
throughout the Northeastern United States, the most heavily dammed region in
the nation. Fishing regulators consider their stocks depleted. But they’re not
the only species in trouble here. Alewife and blueback herring, shad, shortnose
and Atlantic sturgeon, and Atlantic salmon are all on the decline in
Northeastern river systems. In response, a range of government agencies,
private landowners, and environmental groups have been collaborating to restore
these populations — by removing the dams that block their passage.
Although dam removals have been happening since 1912, the vast majority have
occurred since the mid-2010s, and they have picked up steam since the 2021
Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provided funding for such projects. To
date, 806 Northeastern dams have come down, with hundreds more in the pipeline.
Across the country, 2023 was a watershed year, with a total of 80 dam removals.
Says Andrew Fisk, Northeast regional director of the nonprofit American Rivers,
“The increasing intensity and frequency of storm events, and the dramatically
reduced sizes of our migratory fish populations, are accelerating our
efforts.”"
Via
Reasons to be Cheerful:
<
https://reasonstobecheerful.world/what-were-reading-near-extinct-mussels-seine-paris/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
