Damming doesn't hurt salmon? Something is fishy, scientists say.

Darkfrog submitted, created time 2 months 1 week (www.nature.com)

Damming rivers is an environmental conundrum. On the one hand, hydroelectric power provides clean, relatively reliable energy. On the other, damming rivers can endanger fish populations ...or can it? A recent study performed on the dammed Columbia River and undammed Fraser River suggests that perhaps the smolts are all right.

Salmon travel the rivers at two points in their lives: first, they must find their way downriver to the ocean as smolts (juveniles) and second, they must find their way back upstream to the spawning grounds in the last stage of their lives

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