Fishes of Lake Tumba (Democratic Republic of Congo): Evaluation of present status and comparisons with previous studies

Anders Wilander,Kevin Bishop,Norbert Zanga,Bila-Isia Inogwabini

doi:10.3750/aiep/02611

Abstract

Fishes of Lake Tumba (Democratic Republic of Congo): Evaluation of present status and comparisons with previous studies

Highlights

Lake Tumba has a surface area of 830 km2 and is a part of the COMIFAC’s (Commission des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale) highest conservation priority landscapes and it is part of the official Lac Tele–Lac Tumba Landscape, where the primary conservation interest is the freshwater ecosystem (Anonymous 2019)
The lake drains into the Congo River, but when the river is in flood, pH-circumneutral water flows into the northern part of the lake through the Irebu channel
The most frequent was Chrysichthys cranchii*, which had by far the highest Number of fish Per Unit Effort (NPUE) and Weight Per Unit Effort (WPUE) values. pH value

Summary

Introduction

Lake Tumba has a surface area of 830 km and is a part of the COMIFAC’s (Commission des Forêts d’Afrique Centrale) highest conservation priority landscapes and it is part of the official Lac Tele–Lac Tumba Landscape, where the primary conservation interest is the freshwater ecosystem (Anonymous 2019). The objective of this study was to assess changes in the fish species composition by comparing the presently reported survey (2005–2010) with earlier studies carried out in 1938–1939, 1955–1956, and 1959 Our hypothesis was that Lake Tumba had been overfished. Out of 49 pelagic species caught by Matthes in 1959, we considered five as diminished in numbers or even missing This may be attributed to high fishing pressure. A trend in the fishery based on interviews with fishers indicated a change from larger species to smaller This was deemed a result of fishing pressure and nine species were identified as diminishing. The presently reported survey introduced quantitative aspects while earlier studies were qualitative This impairs the ability to draw strong conclusions about overfishing and other anthropogenic activities. The threat of overfishing calls for the need for consistent quantitative monitoring of the fish population, including monitoring of waters in the drainage area, to enable assessment of impact of anthropogenic pressure

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion