COSTECH Integrated Repository

To connect or not to connect? Floods, fisheries and livelihoods in the Lower Rufiji floodplain lakes, Tanzania

Show simple item record

dc.creator Hamerlyncka, Olivier
dc.creator Duvail, Stéphanie
dc.creator Vandepittec, Leen
dc.creator Kindindad, Kassim
dc.creator Nyingie, Dorothy W.
dc.creator Paulb, Jean-Luc
dc.creator Yanda, Pius Z.
dc.creator Mwakalinga, Aggrey B.
dc.creator Mgaya, Yunus D.
dc.creator Snoeksi, Jos
dc.date 2016-03-11T09:01:44Z
dc.date 2016-03-11T09:01:44Z
dc.date 2011-12
dc.identifier Hamerlynck, O., Duvail, S., Vandepitte, L., Kindinda, K., Nyingi, D.W., Paul, J.L., Yanda, P.Z., Mwakalinga, A.B., Mgaya, Y.D. and Snoeks, J., 2011. To connect or not to connect? Floods, fisheries and livelihoods in the Lower Rufiji floodplain lakes, Tanzania. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 56(8), pp.1436-1451.
dc.identifier 0262-6667
dc.identifier http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/858
dc.identifier 10.1080/02626667.2011.630002
dc.description Full text available at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/02626667.2011.630002
dc.description For seven years, village-based recorders monitored fish catches and water levels in seven floodplain-associated lakes of the Lower Rufiji, Tanzania. The lakes differ in the number of days and volume of inflows from the river, and thus provide a natural experiment to explore the links between catch composition, income per hour of fishing (IPHF) and hydrological connectivity, and to analyse the response of the users. The fishers adapt their fishing mode and equipment to achieve a rather constant IPHF of between 0.2 and 0.8 US$/fisher/hour. In situations of low connectivity, during a series of drought years, the less well-connected lakes lost many species and became a virtual monoculture of Oreochromis urolepis. Only in one extreme case was average fish size significantly reduced, indicating a high fishing pressure. Catch was therefore highly resilient to shifts toward illegal, non-selective and active fishing techniques. Fish diversity and lake productivity were quickly re-established when the larger lakes reconnected. The potential impacts of changes in the flood hydrograph (through dams, increased abstraction or climate/land-use changes) are assessed, and management options discussed.
dc.language en
dc.publisher Taylor & Francis Group
dc.subject Floods
dc.subject Rufiji Lake
dc.subject Floodplains
dc.subject tropical fisheries
dc.subject ecosystem services
dc.subject Livelihoods
dc.subject participatory monitoring
dc.subject crues
dc.subject plaines inondables
dc.title To connect or not to connect? Floods, fisheries and livelihoods in the Lower Rufiji floodplain lakes, Tanzania
dc.type Journal Article, Peer Reviewed


Files in this item

Files Size Format View

There are no files associated with this item.

This item appears in the following Collection(s)

Show simple item record

Search COSTECH


Advanced Search

Browse

My Account