Tri-National Sangha Fisheries Project
Thanks to funding from the Fonds Français pour l’Environnement Mondial (FFEM), WCS Nouabalé-Ndoki Project has developed a three year fisheries project to study the fisheries of the Sangha River, in collaboration with the WWF-Lobéké Project in Cameroon and WWF/GTZ Dzanga-Sangha Project in CAR, to alleviate bushmeat offtake in the Tri-National Sangha protection area by promoting fisheries and their sustainable management.
Bomassa, the base of Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park, northern Congo, hosted a workshop on data collection methods for the Sangha River fisheries study from 13-20 August 2007. Among the twelve participants at the workshop, Dr Victor Mamonekene, a consultant from the Institut de Développement Rural of Marien Ngouabi University of Brazzaville, was the main trainer for the workshop. Other participants came from all the protected areas within the Tri-National Sangha. The workshop included theoretical and practical components and the first sessions taught basic knowledge of fish morphology, anatomy, and systematics and the use of fish family identification keys.
The practical component, which was the major part of the workshop included training on the use of the fishing gear with nets, net deployment on the Sangha River, data collection including measuring, weighing, and dissection, and analysis. One of the most important outputs from this workshop was a set of well-structured and standardized field data spreadsheets and also a field guide to the fisheries study methodology for data collection and management by Patrick Boundja of the WCS Congo Program, with contributions from all participants. This workshop was held immediately after a pilot study conducted by Victor Mamonekene along the 400 km of the sampling zone on the Sangha River from the 3-11 August 2007. The workshop will be followed by an initial ten months data collection phase starting in September 2007.