Dugout Canoe Research Articles

The dugout canoe from São Tomé and Príncipe Islands: from the tree to the sea

The aim of this article and the research mission that originated the work described here is to evaluate the scientific potential of the maritime cultural heritage of São Tomé and Príncipe. Based on the available data, only one article on the archaeological potential of the islands has been published, in 2022. The work presented here focuses on the study of São Toméan canoes, documenting and understanding their manufacturing process from the cutting of the tree to their use on the water. Therefore, this work has more to do with ethnography than with nautical and maritime archaeology in its genesis. The symbiosis between these disciplines arises from the necessity to document traditions, ways of life, and vessels that are rapidly disappearing on a daily basis. The tradition of crafting crafts from trees is disappearing due to the loss of forests and the difficulty in finding suitable trees and species. Additionally, younger generations lack interest in this tradition, and fibreglass has been introduced as an alternative. This study aims to analyze and compare an almost forgotten island reality that struggles to survive.

“APPROXIMATE” WIGGLE-MATCH DATING APPLIED TO EARLY AMERICAN MUSEUM OBJECTS

ABSTRACT Wiggle-match dating of tree-ring sequences is particularly promising for achieving high-resolution dating across periods with reversals and plateaus in the calibration curve, such as the entire post-Columbian period of North American history. Here we describe a modified procedure for wiggle-match dating that facilitates precise dating of wooden museum objects while minimizing damage due to destructive sampling. We present two case studies, a dugout canoe and wooden trough, both expected to date to the 18th–19th century. (1) Tree rings were counted and sampled for dating from exposed, rough cross-sections in the wood, with no or minimal surface preparation, to preserve these fragile objects; (2) dating focused on the innermost and outermost portions of the sequences; and (3) due to the crude counting and sampling procedures, the wiggle-match was approximated using a simple ordered Sequence, with gaps defined as Intervals. In both cases, the outermost rings were dated with precision of 30 years or better, demonstrating the potential of wiggle-match dating for post-European Contact canoes and other similar objects.

Species Composition and Abundance of the Cichlid Fishes in Owalla Reservoir, Osun State, Nigeria

Fish production plays crucial roles in enhancing food security and alleviating poverty of many people in Nigeria. As demand for fish increases steadily over the years, production becomes inadequate. One of the ways in which adequate fish production could be met is adequate conservation efforts. This study was conducted with a view of providing a more recent catalogue and update of species composition and abundance of cichlid fishes in Owalla reservoir. Sampling for cichlids fishes in the reservoir was done monthly for 24 weeks with the use of dugout canoe. Four experimental gillnets, each measuring 2 by 30 m, with various stretched mesh sizes (25.4, 38.1, 50.8 and 63.5 mm) were designed to sample various sizes of the fishes. Other sampling techniques adopted include the use of cast net, fish traps and hook and line. The six species of cichlid fishes identified during study are Hemichromis fasciatus (SL=7.35±0.12 cm; mean weight=15.58±9.01g), Sarotherodon galilaeus (SL=11.77±3.12 cm; mean weight=89.48±14.17 g), Oreochromis niloticus (SL=8.35±1.90 cm; mean weight=36.11±10.02 g ), Tilapia zilli (SL=9.95±1.09 cm; mean weight=88.03±16.04 g ), Tilapia mariae (SL=9.83±1.07 cm; mean weight=57.81±14.01 g ) and Tilapia dageti (SL=11.12.±2.01 cm; mean weight=85.30±20.01 g). The fish species were adequately represented, well distributed and occurred frequently in both wet and dry seasons, though the occurrence was higher in the wet season. The mean values of length and weight recorded for the fishes were small when compared with the values of cichlids from similar Nigerian inland waters and was attributed to the indiscriminate use of gillnets with unregulated mesh sizes. Overfishing by the artisanal fishermen could not be ruled out due to lack of regulations on the reservoir. Therefore, regular qualitative and quantitative information on cichlid fishes in the reservoir is necessary for enhancement of management and appraisal of the fisheries potential of the reservoir becomes essential.

От Индонезии до Занзибара: традиционное занзибарское каноэ «нгалава» как пример кросс-культурного перемещения технологии

Technology is an important part of the material culture. Interethnic contacts allowed technological innovations to move between regions and sometimes between continents. There are many such examples — from cultivated plant species, methods of cultivation and irrigation to domesticated animals and hunting and agricultural tools. The transfer of technology made possible to populate and develop new landscapes and transform economiccultural types. In most cases the speed of such spreading was low due to the inertia of traditional culture and the difficulty of adapting new cultural borrowing. Some technologies were transported not only between continents (for example, the domesticated hunting dog was integrated into the culture of the Australian aborigines), but also across the oceans, which in the prehistoric era was the most difficult example of cross-cultural interaction because of the complexity of ocean sailing. The development of sailboats construction and maritime navigation significantly expanded the horizons of peopling, reaching its apogee in the period of the Great Geographical Discoveries. The emergence and evolution of the Pacific two-outrigger dugout canoe on the East African archipelago Zanzibar is one of the prime examples of the transfer of technologies of shipbuilding across the ocean.

What Is There to Do If You Find an Old Indian Canoe? Anti-Colonialism in Maritime Archaeology

Following Max Liboiron’s claim that pollution is colonialism, the anti-colonial maritime archaeologist’s role in the Anthropocene might be to reframe research questions, so that focus is directed toward interactions between marine and maritime, and that the colonial ‘resurrectionist’ approach that has dominated nautical archaeology ought to be reconsidered altogether. This normative statement is put to the test with a 4000-year-old waterlogged dugout canoe that was illegally excavated from the Cooper River in South Carolina, USA. Upon retrieval, the affected tribal entities were brought into consultation with archaeologists and conservators to help decide how to proceed with the canoe’s remains. Tribal representatives reached a consensus to preserve the canoe with PEG and display it in a public museum. This procedure follows the resurrectionist model typical of maritime archaeology in the West, now the dominant protocol globally, where the scholar acts as savior by lifting entire wrecks from watery graves and promising to grant them immortality in utopian museum spaces. However, this immortalizing procedure is at odds with some Indigenous values, voiced by tribal representatives, which embrace life cycles and distributed agency. In the end, the desire to preserve the canoe as a perpetual symbol of intertribal unity dominated concerns surrounding the canoe’s own life, spirit, and autonomy, and that plasticizing it would permanently alter its substance and essence. We argue that the object of the canoe has become subservient to its postcolonial symbolism of Indigenous unity, resilience, and resistance. Further, by subscribing to the resurrectionist model of maritime archaeology, the immortalized canoe now bears the irony of colonial metaphor, as an unintended consequence of its preservation. We echo Audre Lorde’s famous sentiment by wondering if an anticolonial maritime archaeology can ever hope to dismantle the master’s boat using the master’s tools. The conclusions reached here have implications for other maritime and museum contexts too, including the highly publicized case of the wrecked 1859–1860 slave ship, Clotilda.

Haabjakultuuri kolm kogukonda / Three stakeholder communities of dugout canoes

The skill of building dugout (alternatively: single-log) canoes (in Estonian: haabjas) is an important part of the intangible cultural heritage of Estonia’s Soomaa region and more generally of the Pärnu river basin. At the initiative of Estonian Dugout Canoe Society NGO (MTÜ Eesti Haabjaselts), the building of Soomaa dugout canoes has been included in the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, in addition to Estonian national register of intangible cultural heritage. Soomaa dugout canoe building represents a broader tradition of dugout canoes shared by many Finno-Ugric peoples.
 This initiative creates international collaboration opportunities between builders and popularizers of dugout canoes. Recognition of the dugout canoe tradition by UNESCO also supports cultural and nature turism in Soomaa National Park and helps to empower the local community of dugout canoe users, as well as pass the tradition of building dugout canoes to next generations.
 In the brief overview, Aivar Ruukel, the spokesperson of the Estonian Dugout Canoe Society describes the three stakeholder communities of dugout canoes: the local inhabitants; the woodcraftsmen who have the skill of making the dugout canoes, and the international community of ancient boat enthusiasts.

Company and the mysteries of a dugout canoe

AbstractThis article examines the mysterious side of ‘company’, a fundamental aspect of human existence, exemplifying it with an ethnographic vignette about a dugout canoe in the mangroves of southern Bahia (Northeast Brazil). Inspired by Kant's proposal concerning aspects of world, the article distinguishes company both from empathy and from community, as distinct registers of human sociality. Being in company necessarily engages more than two persons inhabiting a common space; it involves an intersubjective encounter that has implications not only for what we do, but also for who we are and where we are. As they emerge into personhood from within company, persons necessarily experience the presence of third parties as a possible threat, inevitably giving rise to contradictory emotions: there is as much fear and conflict as peace within company, for it brings together entities with divergent interests and combines persons and objects in the world. The article addresses the way in which companionship engages power relations, by reference both to gender and to control over land.

Status, distribution and habitat use by Mugger crocodile (Crocodylus palustris) in and around Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve, Nepal

Mugger crocodile is found in various locations of Nepal, ranging from Eastern to Western lowlands, and is also a resident crocodilian of the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve (KTWR). Fewer studies have been carried out on the status and distribution of this crocodilian with limited information on its habitat characteristics. This study sets forth to highlight the population status, distribution and habitat use by mugger crocodile in and around KTWR. Detailed surveys were conducted in the rivers, natural and private ponds of the KTWR in December 2020. Every 500 m along the survey transects, habitat characteristics were recorded in each habitat station as part of the habitat survey. The dependent variables were presence or absence of mugger crocodile in each habitat station. Meanwhile, the independent variables included habitat predictors such as; water depth, slope, elevation, distance to roads, distance to settlements, bank substrate, and human disturbance. Generalized Linear Model under binary logistic regression was employed to test variables associated with presence and absence of muggers for statistical significance. The population survey of the muggers was assessed by day counts either using dugout canoe or walking along transects. During the research period, 35 individuals of muggers were recorded. The probability of mugger sighting augmented with increased slope and depth. 34 muggers (97.14 %) were basking, while 1 (2.85%) were seen swimming out of the total muggers detected. In private and public ponds, 22 muggers were sighted, while 13 were sighted in the main Koshi river, its branches, and the Moriya river. Sixteen muggers (45.71 %) were sighted within the reserve, while the remaining 19 muggers (54.28 %) were sighted in the buffer-zone areas. The probability of mugger sighting varied considerably with regard to slope and water depth among the seven habitat predictors examined. In lieu of prevailing fishing pressure in the river systems of the KTWR and easy availability of prey species for muggers in private fishponds; the muggers are likely use private fishponds more frequently. In order to subdue the muggers inside the KTWR, the reserve authority has a vital role for proper habitat management decisions and regulation of fishing activities.

Seasonal Abundance and Diversity of Waterbirds of Rapti river from Sauraha to Kasara of Chitwan National Park, Nepal

Wetlands are the most productive areas for biodiversity and local livelihood support. Waterbirds are important components of most wetland environments. These asonal abundance and diversity of waterbirds of the Rapti River was studied to assess the species composition and richness along with their seasonal variation in August 2017 and January 2018. The fixed-line transect method in a wooden dugout canoe was used for bird sampling between the winter and summer seasons. Total of 51 species of birds belonging to 9 orders and 18 families were recorded. Species richness was high in winter season than in summer. The study revealed that the study site harbors many residents and a few migratory water bird species. According to the IUCN Red List status, 43 species were in the Least Concern, 5species were in the Near Threatened, 2 species were invulnerable, and 1 species was in the Endangered category. The order Anseriformes and Charadriiformes were recorded the much in number that was 11 species each. The dominant family was Anatidae represented by 11 species, followed by the Ardeidae with nine species and the lowest representations of one species were in the other nine families. The Shannon wiener diversity index was found to be higher in the winter season (H’= 3.47) than in the summer season (H’= 3.30). High altitude winter migratory bird Bar-headed Goose (Anser indicus) was also recorded. The major threats to wetland birds included habitat destruction, human disturbances, and fishing. The study concludes that study area contains a diverse and rich avifauna, especially the population of winter migrants that needs to be monitored regularly.

Conserving Context and Community: Reconnecting an Illegally Excavated, Precolonial Dugout Canoe to its Community

ABSTRACT The oldest canoe discovered in South Carolina was illegally recovered from the Cooper River near Charleston in 1997 and spent 23 years in state custody awaiting funding for conservation treatment. In 2020, it was transferred into the temporary custody of Clemson University’s Warren Lasch Conservation Center. Where once the conservation methodology would have begun and ended with an impregnation treatment and vacuum freeze-drying, the Cooper River Canoe Project instead began by consultation with the Native American communities of South Carolina. Through collaboration with Native American leaders, archaeologists, and conservators, the conservation of a 4000-year-old, waterlogged, fragmentary dugout canoe will be undertaken. Unprecedented in South Carolina, the Cooper River Canoe Project challenges established colonial practices in archaeology and conservation, and designs a new approach to the conservation of Native American cultural heritage. By recognizing Native American communities’ rights to the management and determination of their cultural heritage, project partners are creating a new model for the conservation of cultural heritage in South Carolina.

Navigational Experience and the Preservation of Spatial Abilities into Old Age Among a Tropical Forager-Farmer Population.

Navigational performance responds to navigational challenges, and both decline with age in Western populations as older people become less mobile. But mobility does not decline everywhere; Tsimané forager-farmers in Bolivia remain highly mobile throughout adulthood, traveling frequently by foot and dugout canoe for subsistence and social visitation. We, therefore, measured both natural mobility and navigational performance in 305 Tsimané adults, to assess differences with age and to test whether greater mobility was related to better navigational performance across the lifespan. Daily mobility was measured by GPS tracking, regional mobility through interview, navigational performance through pointing accuracy and perspective taking in environmental space, and mental rotation by a computerized task. Although mental rotation and spatial perspective taking declined with age, mobility and pointing accuracy remained high from mid-life through old age. Greater regional mobility was associated with greater accuracy at pointing and perspective taking, suggesting that spatial experience at environmental scales may help maintain navigational performance in later adulthood.

The Formation of the Character「風(wind)」

As oracle bone writing entered into its third phase, the script for Phoenix「鳳」was being drawn up as「 」which includes the symbol 「 」. Conventionally, the 「盤」 code, like the 「 」 code, has simply meant a boat. In this article, it is argued that 「 」 means a dugout canoe and 「 」 means a sailing ship. In addition, 「 」 was used as a constituent part of 「 (鳳：Feng)」which was the original character for wind. The word 「凡」 in 「帆」 was used as a metaphorical symbol to mean wind because a sailing ship is used as the metaphor of wind . The Chinese character for「 」later became 「凡」 which constituted the characters for 鳳' and '風'. 般, 'which is considered to be same concept as 「凡」means circling the boat with a sail following the wind according to Shouwen Jiezi（『説文解字』）. Dr. Shizuka Shirakawa, a traditional Chinese calligrapher, interpreted 「凡」 as the first sentence of 「盤」. There is an interpretation that 「盤」 has the meaning of 「盤旋」, and therefore 「盤」 has the meaning of wind. However, I cannot understand that 「盤 旋」（circulate）is a metaphor for wind. Rather, it seems to be more reasonable to assume that 「凡」 means that the sail of a sailing ship receives the wind. The word 「凡」 originally meant sailing ship, and in its expanded meaning, wind, and in addition, it meant ship as a symbol that mediates the divine and human worlds.

Schop, spade of stuurriem? Een bijzondere vondst uit Ezinge

Shovel, spade or side rudder? A special find from Ezinge. In 1933, excavations in the terp of Ezinge (province of Groningen) uncovered an object made out of oak in a house dating from the beginning of the 5th century BC. The object was recorded as a wooden shovel. Its asymmetrical shape, in combination with its lack of handle and its perforated shaft, however, suggest that it may not be a shovel (or a spade), although the possibility cannot be ruled out altogether. The shape of the object seems suitable for use as a side rudder, used to steer a long, dugout canoe powered by multiple paddlers. The earliest side rudders reported in the literature from northwestern Europe are from the late Roman period in southern Scandinavia. If the object could be proven to be a side rudder, it would be a rare find. It would also be one of a very small number of finds that can be associated with boats in the maritime landscape where Ezinge was situated. We recommend experimental research to better understand the use of dugout canoes and side rudders, and to reassess similar objects that have been recorded as shovels or spades.

Characteristics of artisanal fisheries in the upper reaches of Bonny Estuary, Niger Delta, Nigeria

Characteristics of artisanal fisheries in the upper reaches of Bonny Estuary were investigated for a period of six months from December 2014 to June 2015. Data were collected from randomly selected fishermen from five communities, viz., Bodo, Kpor, Bomu, Lewe and Gbe, using interview and open ended structured questionnaire. The research was carried out to ascertain the fish existed in the study area, types of gear, and methods of fishing, preservation and marketing techniques. The mean values of physico-chemical parameters such as temperature, dissolved oxygen (D.O), salinity, pH, turbidity, and biological oxygen demand (BOD) were 30.47±1.34˚C, 8.64±1.24 mg/l, 16.4±5.78 ppt, 7.66±0.76, 117.0±16.9 NTU and 4.94±2.66 mg/l, respectively. A total of 52 fish species belonging to 24 families were identified and the species diversity and their abundance were determined. Tilapia guineensis was the highest in number (190) with 4.0% of abundance, while Sphryraena afra was the least in number (9) with 2.0% of abundance. The dry season (December–February) recorded the number of 2,772 (57.7%) fin fishes, while the wet season (April–June) found 2,028 (42.3%). The mean number of fish caught was highest in station 2 and lowest in station 4. The physico chemical parameters were within the acceptable limits for fish growth in brackish water ecosystem. The study revealed that the gear commonly used by the fishermen include cast nets, drag nets, hook and line, and traps, while the crafts used were mainly dug-out canoe and non-motorised boat. It also revealed that the constraints responsible for the low catch and poor standard of living of the fishermen as observed include high cost of gear materials, poor condition of boat, no access to credit facilities, destruction of nets by engine boat and environmental pollution. In view of the negative impacts that the aforementioned factors have on the fishermen, it is necessary to implement an effective management of the fisheries through proper enforcement and environmental laws and policies to safeguard and conserve the aquatic biota from going into extinction as well as restoring the source of livelihood to the fishermen in the area under investigation.

A brief manual for building an Estonian dugout canoe

A brief manual for building an Estonian dugout canoe

Francis John Bennett

Francis John Bennett (known as John) devoted his life to the improvement of public health throughout Africa, and is regarded as the “Father of Primary Health Care in Africa.” He...

Current Research: Discovery and Recovery of a 14th Century Dugout Canoe on the Red River, Caddo Parish, Louisiana

In June 2017, Jenna Bradley and Robert Cornett were boating down the Red River in northern Caddo Parish, Louisiana, when they noticed an unusual log protruding from a sandy bank near the town of Belcher. After realizing that it was a dugout canoe, they contacted the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and eventually word of the find was transmitted to state archaeologist Chip McGimsey at the Louisiana Division of Archaeology. The following day, Bradley and Cornett led Jeffrey Girard and Jameel Damlouji of the Louisiana Archaeological Society to the site. It was obvious that it was a dugout canoe of comparable size and form to one found in 1983 at the base of a steep cutbank on the east side of a now cut off channel of the Red River approximately 12 km (7 miles) downstream (Figure 1). At the time, the 1983 canoe was thought to be the largest prehistoric watercraft in the Southeastern United States measuring 9.35 m (or 30 ft. 8 inches) long and 56 cm (1 ft. 10 inches) in diameter. The newly discovered canoe is a little larger, measuring 10.2 m long (33.4 ft.) and approximately 60 cm (2.0 ft.) in diameter. Both boats have similar shapes with step-like seats carved into the ends (Figures 2 and 3), and both probably are made from cypress logs, although the wood of the recent find has not been identified with certainty.

Eesti etnograafid lõunavepsa külades 1965–1969

Estonian ethnographers in southern Vepsian villages, 1965–1969 Estonian ethnographers have taken an interest in Finno-Ugric peoples since the dawn of ethnography, and to the extent possible, they have made trips to the regions in question to study their culture. Starting in the 1960s, the State Ethnography Museum of the Estonian SSR in Tartu (the past and present Estonian National Museum) became the hub of Finno-Ugric ethnography under its director, Aleksei Peterson. Expeditions to the linguistic relatives in the east began at the initiative and with the support of linguists (chiefly, Paul Ariste) and continued in later years independently. The article looks at five expeditions made by Estonian ethnographers to southern Vepsian villages in the years 1965–1969. The central source is the fieldwork diaries maintained on the expeditions. In addition, the article examines the photographs, film footage and drawings from these expeditions, along with collected items and ethnographic descriptions. The scholarly and popular science-oriented texts based on the material acquired on the expeditions and coverage of the expeditions in the Estonian media of that era are analysed. Interviews were conducted with a few of the people who took part in the trips. The southern Veps region was poorly connected with the rest of the world in the 1960s, and the people there led quite an isolated existence. For this reason, the villages in the region had an abundance of extant or only recently defunct aspects (such as slash and burn agriculture, dugout canoe construction or use of twigs to heat the stove), which captivated the ethnologists. The southern Veps region was a unique window to the past for Estonian researchers, who in that period dealt with questions of ethnogenesis. The material culture had received little study and Peterson saw this as his calling and an opportunity. Modernisation was already under way and everything old was at risk of fading. Ethnographers interested in these matters had to hurry to save for science what could be salvaged. The traditional peasant culture of the Vepsians was documented using still cameras and film cameras, ethnographic interviews were conducted, ethnographic drawings prepared, and artefacts were collected with great verve. Quantity was important, and the field work was generally a collective pursuit – many people could after all accomplish more than just one. The material recorded in the course of fieldwork reached academic circulation quite rapidly – presentations were delivered at international conferences, and journal articles were published. The coverage of the expeditions in the Estonian media was quite lively as well. Newspapers published accounts of various lengths and on at least once occasion the ethnographers’ activities in the Vepsian region was discussed on television. Estonian scholars perceived and conveyed the southern Veps villages as some kind of Baltic-Finnic fairy tale land. In general, researchers relished the opportunity to go on an expedition. It was felt that this was a noble thing, which in some sense also tied in with the Estonian national cause. Research into the linguistic relatives was positively received by Estonian society for this reason – i.e. it was linked to the national identity. Local authorities in the destination regions generally took a positive attitude toward the ethnographers. The zeitgeist favoured science and expeditions. The Veps people – especially those in more remote and isolated villages – frequently greeted the Estonian ethnographers with initial scepticism. The Estonians had to explain their objectives and use documents to prove their bona fides. Later the alienation dissipated and once the close kinship of the Vepsian and Estonian languages was revealed, the newcomers received a rapturous reception as if they were long-lost relatives. At Sodjärv Lake, which served on multiple occasions as the ethnographers’ base camp, Estonian researchers became accepted by the Vepsians as their own people. It is difficult to gauge precisely the influence that those and later expeditions had on the Vepsian peoples. The Estonians’ visits probably helped to bolster the generally weak self-identity of the Veps people. While the Russians in the region all too often took a supercilious view of the Veps and their language, the ethnographers from Estonia had come to study them precisely because of their identity and held in high regard everything from old peasant culture to the language. Some local people still speak positively about Estonians. The five expeditions to the villages of the southern Vepsian region discussed in this article, their outcome and resonance make up a key part of a cultural current that sprang from Finno-Ugric studies in Soviet Estonia, the best-known examples of which are Lennart Meri’s ethnographic documentary films, the choral music of Veljo Tormis and the graphic art of Kaljo Põllu. Emphasising their Finno-Ugric roots was for Estonians an additional way to express their Estonian identity independent of Soviet rule and ethnographers made a significant contribution to this trend.

Sampan Sudur Sungai Padang, Temuan Arkeologis di Tanjungmarulak, Tebingtinggi, Sumatera Utara

AbstractThe finding of a dugout canoe in Sungai Padang, Tebingtinggi add the data of existence means of transportation from time to time coastal area of east Sumatera Island. Known as sampan sudur, this simple boat type is popular enough, its use at past and that with reference to Tebingtinggi at 19 th century, shares a institution of governance of Kedatukan Padang, which is under influence of the reign of Sultanate Deli.

Benthic Fish Fauna and Physicochemical Parameters of Otamiri River, Imo State, Nigeria

The study on the fish fauna and physicochemical characteristics of Otamiri River was carried out for six months (June to August and October to December 2015). Samples were collected monthly from three sampling stations along the river. Eckman grab, scoop net, line and hook, cast net, traps and dugout canoe were used to collect the fish samples. Samples were collected from three stations, station 1 (dumpsite in the river), station 2 (dredging section) and station 3 (vegetable farming section). A total of 129 fishes belonging to 5 species, Synodontis budgetti, S. soloni, Chrysicthys nigrodigitatus, Clarias gariepinus and Papyrocranus afer were collected. Station 3 had the highest species composition (n=4) and fish abundance, 108 (83.7%), while station 1 had the least species composition (n=2) and the least fish abundance, 10 (7.8%). Temperature variation from June to December was wide at station 1 (25-28oC), unlike station 2 (27-28oC) and station 3 (28-29oC). A similar trend was replicated by Dissolved Oxygen (DO). Significant correlation of S. budgetti abundance and temperature (r=0.696, p<0.05), depth of river (r=-0.615, p<0.01) and turbidity (r=0.595, p<0.01) was observed. Similarly, a significant correlation of C. nigrodigitatus abundance and temperature (r=0.473, p<0.05), C. gariepinus abundance and depth (r=-0.481, p<0.05), P. afer abundance and temperature (r=0.530, p<0.05) was observed. Fish species abundance and composition in Otamiri River was significantly affected by anthropogenic activities.