'Rionga's Island': A Note on Samuel Baker's Second Expedition to Central Africa

Abstract

lake comes within the productive weeded zone. There is plenty of food, and spawning is confined to the shallows where the stream enters and possibly other suitable places in the lake itself. The trout are fairly numerous, certainly not to excess, and are of a good size. It is impossible to foresee how the recently stocked lake at Taipichaca will turn out. It is shallow and weeded, and the trout should grow fast and multiply. This process could continue to the point where their numbers and size can no longer be supported by a diminishing food supply. A severe and steady decline would then set in; this is the situation at present in the lower Hichucota Lake. In a lake where there are no natural predators, a healthy stock of decent-sized trout may under certain conditions be best maintained by fishing them hard?out of season or even with nets if necessary. In this way one ensures that Man redresses the balance in respect of a fish which he and not Nature has put there in the first place.