West African inland fishery and fish migration: the case study of Burkina Faso
Abstract
The problem As arid country, Burkina Faso has implemented a water resources development policy that resulted in the creation of 1,500 reservoirs, unfortunately with no regard to the migration of fish. However, nowadays, this has been identified as impacting it and even considered by the water code. But as the topic is not assessed yet, no prototype of migratory device is proposed. Human activities on rivers can impede the migration of fish, which is source of threat for fish species, for biodiversity as experienced by developed countries and for fisheries. Current policies call for environmental concerns and require sustainable use of natural resources, including water and fish ones. In that sense a legal framework is developed in Burkina to protect environment. It expressly takes into consideration the obstruction of fish migration by dam dikes and by fishing methods. Unfortunately this is not the case in many other countries, seaside states and landlocked states as well. However, these legal instruments are not adequately implemented in Burkina. Though attempts to incorporate fish ladder in dikes are reported, no dam has suitable pass device. Aims of the study - Analyse to what extent the migration of freshwater fish is theoretically and practically protected in Africa, mainly in Burkina Faso; - Suggest strategy and prototypes of fish pass structures that fit the environmental, economical and sociological contexts of Burkina Faso. Purpose of the research The research aims at i) assessing the African awareness on the need for the fish to migrate, ii) describing the migration of fishes and the obstacles they face and iii) propose a strategy to allow the fish migration.. Methodology - People awareness will be assessed through interviews and discussions with local people, fishers, dams developers, environmentalists. The main tool is a questionnaire. - Visiting and fishing some waters will help characterise the fish migration in Burkina Faso: o The area of study (182 km² large) hosts 15 reservoirs (0.1 to 2.5 ha each), and their connecting brooks (2-10 m large, 33 km of total length). Fish samples will be taken from two reservoirs regarded as the migration starting points. The fish will be marked and released. Then, the rivers will be targeted in order to find out the migrating fishes. Later, the upstream resevoirs will be fished to find out which species were able to pass the dikes. o Fish samples will be also taken from complementary water. With regard to the fish migration, they are selected to be “un-impacted” (i.e, reference waters) vs highly impacted waters. o Sampling methods: diverse fishing gears will be used: electro-fishing, castnets, gilnets, traps and long lines. About 525 samples of fish will be taken, daytime and night time, from various fish habitats. o Some data will also be collected from the fishers (an information campain will be organised) o The obstacles to the fish migration will be described in the areas of study. Hypothesis: - Water resource developers and environmentalists are not sufficiently aware neither of the necessity of fish to migrate along rivers, nor of the legal requirement that specifically protects fish migration; - Some fish species migrate but their movement is actually mainly blocked by reservoirs dikes; - This partially explains the differences between fish communities in rivers and in reservoirs.
keywords Fish Fishmigration Burkina Faso Africa
Publikationen
Project staff
Andreas Melcher
Priv.-Doz. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. Andreas Melcher
andreas.melcher@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-93411
Project Leader
15.11.2007 - 15.11.2010
Stefan Schmutz
Univ.Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr.nat.techn. Stefan Schmutz
stefan.schmutz@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-81202
Sub Projectleader
15.11.2007 - 15.11.2010
Herwig Waidbacher
Ao.Univ.Prof.i.R. Dr.phil. Herwig Waidbacher
herwig.waidbacher@boku.ac.at
Tel: +43 1 47654-81222
Project Staff
15.11.2007 - 15.11.2010