Novel methods for managing freshwater refuges against climate change in southern Australia. Supporting Document 4: Evaluating small barrier removal to improve refuge connectivity – A global review of barrier decommissioning and a process for southern Australia in a drying climate
Authors: Stephen Beatty, Mark Allen, Alan Lymbery, Tim Storer, Gillian White, David Morgan and Tom Ryan
Year: 2013
Provides useful information to managers of fluvial ecosystems regarding the impacts of instream barriers such as dams and weirs in the context of river regulation. Specifically, the report is a review of the global literature on the impacts of these barriers, and the processes that exist for prioritising their removal in an attempt to improve refuge connectivity. As a result, a stepwise protocol for barrier identification and prioritisation was developed and trialled in three catchments in south-western Australia. The approach undertaken combined landholder surveys, GIS database analysis, and rapid aerial assessments. A score and ranking system that weights both the positive and potential negative impacts of removing instream barriers was also developed.
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