Abstract

Fish stocks are declining at alarming rates in the Central African forests but little is known about patterns of fishing pressure for different areas. To contribute to the understanding of covariates that could explain these trends, this study documented the relative abundances of fish in eleven sites in the western Democratic Republic of Congo in relation to human density, distance from the nearest markets and mean numbers of fishing nets. Linear regression indicated that, taken alone, 88 % of observed differences in fish relative abundance correlated with the mean number of fishing nets and 60 % of these differences were attributable to distance from the nearest market. Human density was marginally associated with fish abundance. The study also shows that fish and wildlife relative abundances followed the same trends: where more wildlife species remain, there are more abundant fish stocks. The two conservation messages of this paper are that, as is the case for bushmeat, fishing becomes a problem when the commercial market is its prime driver and a solution to the bushmeat crisis could also reduce over-fishing.

Keywords

Bushmeat; Fish abundance; Large mammal; Encounter rates; Human density; Market; Mean number of nets

Published in

Environmental Biology of Fishes
2014, Volume: 97, number: 7, pages: 787-796

SLU Authors

• Inogwabini, Bila-Isia

  • Department of Aquatic Sciences and Assessment, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

Sustainable Development Goals

Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas and marine resources for sustainable development


UKÄ Subject classification

Zoology
Fish and Aquacultural Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-013-0179-6

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/50980