A Survey of the Demersal Fishery in the Kigoma Area

Lake Tanganyika is the largest of the African rift lakes and the second deepest lake in the world (Coulter, 1991). It provides many critical services to communities in the four riparian countries of Tanzania, Zambia, D. R. Congo, and Burundi, and serves as an important source of protein through its vibrant fishery (Coulter, 1991). This fishery can be divided into two general categories based on the area of lake fished: pelagic and littoral. The pelagic fishery now consists mainly of three species (2 cluepeids-Stolothrissa tanganicae and Limnothrissa miodon-locally known as “dagaa” and Lates Stappersii) and occurs offshore in the pelagic zone. Altogether, the annual catch from these three species is estimated to be around 167,000-200,000 metric tons, almost half (~80,000 tons) of which is taken by Tanzania (Mölsä et al., 1999). The littoral fishery, on the other hand, consists of over one hundred different species and occurs from the shoreline into the littoral and sublittoral zones (0-40 m), although it also exploits species from the benthic zone (>40 m). A large sub-category of the littoral fishery is the demersal fishery, which refers to any fishing that takes place along the lake bottom, from the shoreline down to the oxic-anoxic boundary.