Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T19:51:13.374Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Management of the Lake Kariba Inshore Fishery and Some Thoughts on Biodiversity and Conservation Issues, Zimbabwe

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 August 2009

Rudo A. Sanyanga
Rudo A. Sanyanga
Affiliation:
Ecologist, Department of National Parks & Wildlife Management, Lake Kariba Fisheries Research Institute, PO Box 75, Kariba, Zimbabwe.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This paper deals with conservation issues and threats faced by the inshore fishery of Lake Kariba, where human actions such as poaching and introduction of alien species are threatening the indigenous species. Lake Kariba is a Man-made Lake that was created in 1956–58 and has undergone a number of changes from a eutrophic stage in its early years to the present oligotrophic state. Tied up with this were changes in hydrology, the initial filling phase being marked with high fish-yields, then the booming of the pestiferous Salvinia molesta, until 1971 marked the end of evolutionary changes and the beginning of the decline in nutrient status of the Lake.

One of the two fisheries of Lake Kariba is described: the inshore fishery, which is the richer and more interesting in terms of diversity and conservation. This fishery is exploited by artisanal fishermen who use ‘primitive’ means. The fish species involved are vulnerable, as they take a long time to grow and have generally a low fecundity as compared with the ‘sardines’. The famous sport-fish Hydrocynus vittatus (Tigerfish) is, in particular, threatened by human activities.

Fishery regulations and management laws are implemented by LKFRI — a Zimbabwe Government institute under the Department of National Parks & Wildlife Management. Whereas the regulations appear sound and reasonable, economic hardships and human population growth in the hinterland have caused changes in the attitudes of people. Fishing is an easy source of revenue, but policing it has become costly and difficult.

Type
Main Papers
Information
Environmental Conservation , Volume 22 , Issue 2 , Summer 1995 , pp. 111 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © Foundation for Environmental Conservation 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Balon, E.K. (1972). Possible fish stock size assessment and available production survey as developed on Lake Kariba. African Journal of Tropical Hydrobiology & Fish, 2, pp. 45–73.Google Scholar
Balon, E.K. (1973). Results of fish population size assessment in Lake Kariba coves (Zambia), a decade after their creation. Pp. 149–58 in Man-made Lakes: Their Problems and Environmental Effects (Eds Ackerman, W.C., White, G.F. & Worthington, E.B.). Geophysical Monograph Series Vol. 17, American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, USA: xvi + 847 pp.Google Scholar
Bowmaker, A.P. (1970). Prospect of Lake Kariba. Optima, 20(2), pp. 68–74.Google Scholar
Coke, M. (1968). Depth distribution offish on a bush-cleared area of Lake Kariba, Central Africa. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, 97, pp. 460–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jackson, P.B.N. (1960). The ecological effects of flooding by the Kariba dam upon Middle Zambezi fishes. Pp. 277–84 in Proceedings of the first Federal Scientific Congress, Salisbury, Rhodesia [now Harare, Zimbabwe]: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Jackson, P.B.N. (1961). Ichthyology: the fish of the Middle Zambezi. Kariba Studies, 1, pp. 1–36. (National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe).Google Scholar
Karenge, L.P. (1992). Inshore Fish Population Changes at Lakeside, Kariba, Zimbabwe, Between 1969–1991. MPhil. Thesis, University of Bergen, Norway: 54 pp.Google Scholar
Kenmuir, D.H.S. (1984). Fish population changes in the Sanyati basin, Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe. South African Journal of Zoology, 19(3), pp. 194–209.Google Scholar
Kolding, J. (MS). Fish diversity and stability in man-made Lake Kariba 30 years after impoundment. [Not available for checking.]Google Scholar
Lingen, M.I. van der (1973). Lake Kariba: early history and south shore. Pp. 132–42 in Man-made Lakes: Their Problems and Environmental Effects. (Eds Ackerman, W.C., White, G.F. & Worthington, E.B.). Geophysical Monograph Series Vol. 17. American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, USA: xvi + 847 pp.Google Scholar
Marshall, B.E. (1979). Fish populations and the fisheries potential of Lake Kariba. South African Journal of Science, 75, pp. 485–8.Google Scholar
Marshall, B.E. (1984). (Zimbabwe/Zambia). Pp. 105–53 in Status of African Reservoir Fisheries (Eds Kapetsky, J.M. & Petr, T.). CIFA Technical Paper 10, FAO, Rome, Italy: [not available for checking].Google Scholar
Marshall, B.E., Junor, F.J.R. & Langerman, J.D. (1982). Fisheries and fish production on the Zimbabwean side of Lake Kariba. Kariba Studies, 10, pp. 175–231. (National Museums and Monuments of Zimbabwe, Harare, Zimbabwe.)Google Scholar
Minshull, J.L. (1973). The establishment of a fishery among the resettled Batonka people at Lake Kariba, Rhodesia. Commission Internationale des Grands Barrages, Madrid, Spain: pp. 413–9.Google Scholar
Sanyanga, R.A. (1990). Part II: A Comparison of Gill-net Catches from a Fished and an Unfished Area of Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe. MSc thesis, University College of Wales, Cardiff, Wales, UK: 104 pp.Google Scholar
Sanyanga, R.A., Machena, C. & Kautsky, N. (in press). Abundance and distribution of inshore fish species in fished and protected areas in Lake Kariba, Zimbabwe. Hydrobiologia.Google Scholar
Sanyanga, R.A. & Muchabaiwa, L.D. (1994). 1993 Fisheries Statistics. (Lake Kariba Fisheries Research Institute report nr 77.) 32 pp. (Mimeogr: Lake Kariba Research Institute, PO Box 75, Kariba, Zimbabwe.)Google Scholar
Skelton, P.H. (1993). A Complete Guide to the Freshwater Fishes of Southern Africa. Southern Book Publishers, Cape Town, South Africa: xiii + 388 pp., illustr.Google Scholar
van der Lingen, M.I.See Lingen, M.I. van der.Google Scholar
ZZSFP (1993). Working group on assessment of the inshore fisheries stocks of Lake Kariba. Zambia/Zimbabwe SADC Fisheries Project Report, nr 26. Kariba 13–22 October 1993. LKFRI, PO Box 75, Kariba, Zimbabwe: v + 110 pp. (mimeogr.).Google Scholar