Damming a river may bring electric power, but it often comes at the price of high-quality food fisheries, experts say. When dams are proposed for power, flood control or irrigation, the often devastating impacts on fisheries in rivers and lakes are ignored or discounted.

This report by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Fish Centre warns that despite over 40 years of steady production globally, rapid environmental changes are occurring which challenge the viability of future fish stocks and a range of internationally- agreed development targets including the Millennium Development Goals.

The report is available online at http://www.unep.org/pdf/Blue_Harvest.pdf