Lake Tanganyika fisheries in post-conflict Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

Since the first regional lakewide fisheries frame survey on Lake Tanganyika in 1995, no fisheries census was conducted in the Democratic Republic of Congo and therefore the results of the second lakewide frame survey in 2011 should be studied intensively as numerous changes took place in the region in general and along the Congolese coastline in particular. In the capital city, Kinshasa, at a distance of approximately 2000 km from the lake, Lake Tanganyika is known as the water body where the fish die of old age according to Gayo Lemba, Chairman of the Lake Tanganyika Authority Management Committee for Democratic Republic of Congo from a personal communication. The results of the 2011 frame survey indicate that fish were not allowed to reach an old age as the fishing capacity over time had more than doubled as compared to the situation in 1995. The fisheries resources were considered under high pressure by the end of the previous millennium and therefore a Framework Fisheries Management Plan was developed by Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations to start managing the fisheries (both fish and fishermen) with a view to a regional lakewide approach involving the neighboring riparian countries. The present article describes the major findings of the frame survey along the littoral zone of Democratic Republic of Congo in 2011 in comparison with the results from the first lakewide regional frame survey in 1995. Not only fishermen increased in number, but also fishing canoes and women processors as well as traders. The approach taken by Democratic Republic of Congo, involving a new sort of co-management, contributes to peace, development and relative stability in this fragile region.

Keywords:

• frame survey
• fishing capacity
• lakewide fisheries management

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank the Lake Tanganyika Authority and FAO for their fruitful collaboration during the preparation of the frame survey 2011. They are also indebted to all colleagues at the NCU in Kalemie, as well as to the large group of data collectors and supervisors. This survey could not have been implemented without the support of the LTA Management Committee for DR Congo, whose Chairman, Mr. Gayo Lemba François, also the Director of Fisheries, was instrumental in organizing the funding for the frame survey through the LTA Secretariat, the African Development Bank's PRODAP, and the Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo. This frame survey would have been impossible without the collaboration of all Congolese fishermen on Lake Tanganyika.

Notes

A small canoe carrying lamps for night fishing that accompanies catamarans.