Abstract:
Effort (CPUE) of Nile perch (Lates cf. niloticus) captured using three common
fishing gears at Magu district in Tanzania. Three landing sites along Lake Victoria
were selected for this assessment. Each site was visited twice per week for two
months. At each site 10 boats were identified based on the gear used and randomly
selected for fish count. Ten fish per boat were taken for weight and length
measurements. The results show that the main fishing gears used to catch fish at
all sites were gillnet (GN), long line (LL) and beach seine (BS). Mean length of
captured fish recorded from each gear were 33.7, 41.5 and 43.8 for beach seine,
gillnets and long lines respectively, which was below the minimal required
length of 50 cm. Large proportion of small landed fish were observed in vessels
fishing with beach seine, this was due to illegal nature of the beach seine, where
by fishermen used small mesh sizes of 10 mm to 12 mm. However, beach seine
had higher CPUE (kg/gear/day) (44.9) and gillnet had the lowest (22.6). This
study revealed that the mean length from all sites were below the legal minimum
size required by the Tanzanian government, suggesting that all beaches are
involves in over exploration of fish.
