Fisheries of western Lake Tanganyika in March 2024

Data Records

The data in this occurrence resource has been published as a Darwin Core Archive (DwC-A), which is a standardized format for sharing biodiversity data as a set of one or more data tables. The core data table contains 62 records.

This IPT archives the data and thus serves as the data repository. The data and resource metadata are available for download in the downloads section. The versions table lists other versions of the resource that have been made publicly available and allows tracking changes made to the resource over time.

Versions

The table below shows only published versions of the resource that are publicly accessible.

How to cite

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

Mushagalusa D, Moore F, Lehman A (2024): Fisheries of Western Lake Tanganyika. v1.0. Lake Tanganyika Floating Health Clinic/WAVE. Dataset/Occurrence.

Rights

Researchers should respect the following rights statement:

The publisher and rights holder of this work is Lake Tanganyika Floating Health Clinic. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC-BY-NC 4.0) License.

GBIF Registration

This resource has been registered with GBIF, and assigned the following GBIF UUID: c58e37c4-90dd-49c1-b101-3ab9904d4854.  Lake Tanganyika Floating Health Clinic publishes this resource, and is itself registered in GBIF as a data publisher endorsed by Participant Node Managers Committee.

Keywords

Occurrence; Fisheries; Lake; Tanganyika; Africa; Freshwater

Contacts

Geographic Coverage

Western Lake Tanganyika within the boundaries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Taxonomic Coverage

No Description available

Temporal Coverage

Project Data

Key biodiversity sampling of fish populations in western Lake Tanganyika.

The personnel involved in the project:

Sampling Methods

Collections of fish samples were performed once or twice per site during the study period using complementary methods in each selected station. Individuals fish species were collected in different habitats within the selected sites from local commercial catches of fishermen using their different fishing gears: gillnets of different mesh sizes and widths, beach seines and liftnets with mixed mesh sizes, gillnets with various techniques (i.e., monofilament, dormant, encircling and deep gillnets, …) and illegal mosquito nets of smaller mesh-sizes (02-03 mm). These various gears were surveyed in each sampling day and site according to the fishing habitat (lake substratum) and lake site (inshore vs. offshore). We recorded the features of each net directly at the sampling site such as the length, width (near 1.00 m) and mesh-size (near 1.00 mm) using a measuring tape or decametre. We noted the fishing depth, the duration as well as the effort (e.g., number of nets per active fishing unit, number of fisherman and net hauls) for each gear. The presence of each gear at a site allowed assessing the rate of fishing activity and fish distribution within the sampling habitats. The type of fishery and net, the numbers of fishermen involved per trip and per fishing unit were recorded and are discussed in relation to the type of gear used. After each fishing trial, fresh weight (in kg) of each sample was measured per fishing gear and number (net hauls per trip) recorded whenever possible. For each type of fishing, fish samples with a selection of species were usually bought from fishermen, and preliminary sorted at sampling sites (as fishermen did not deliver their entire fish capture) by species and after being weighed. The fish samples (handful) were collected and killed and preserved into ethanol (75%) and then fixed in formaldehyde (10%) to slow decomposition of organs. All fish species captured were identified, weighed and counted following the fishing habitat and effort. The samples were separated into smaller bags by type of fishing-gear, site and other parameters of the fishing-effort and environment and kept in 10% formaldehyde for subsequent analysis in the laboratory

Method step description:

1. At the laboratory of Biology at the Centre de Recherche en Hydrobiologie (CRH, Uvira, DR Congo) each sample was re-sorted into species by fishing gear and habitat or fishing effort and each species identified following available books and/or keys (Fryer and Iles 1972; Axelrod et al 1977; Poll 1956, 1986; Brichard 1978, 1989; Eccles 1992; Konings 2015; Fermon et al 2007) Then, specimens were sorted by species, counted and the total, standard lengths (TL and SL) and the body height (BH) were measured (nearest 0.1 mm). These measurements and measuring techniques of fish were executed according to Barel et al. (1977), Eccles (1992), Snoeks (1994), Snoeks et al (1994), Snoeks et al (1997), Snoeks (2000) and Hanssens and Snoeks (2003). Sex was determined by exanimating the genital papillae and other external body feature such as coloration patterns (Snoeks 2000). For details in the sex, fish were dissected to determine the maturity stages of gonads following De Kimpe (1964), Micha (1973), Plisnier (1990). Each fish was then weighed (using various scales following species and individual sizes), the viscera and the gonads removed, and weighed (nearest 0.001g) and the body re-weighed to calculate the gonado-somatic index (GSI).

Additional Metadata