Search fisheries

Fishery and Aquaculture Country Profiles Democratic Republic of the Congo

 

Profiles home

Fishery Thematic Databases

Fishery Production Statistics

Fishery Trade Statistics

Fishery Legislation

News and Events

FAO Pub- lications

Other FAO Country Profiles

FISHERIES DATA

Commodity balance (1998):

THE STRUCTURE AND CHARACTERISTICS OF THE INDUSTRY

Marine fisheries

The DRC has a very small Atlantic Ocean coastline, and marine production is very modest, accounting in the 1980s only for an estimated 2 percent of total national fish harvests. Almost all of the marine production reported derives from artisanal units using canoes and beach seines.

Inland fisheries

There are vast freshwater fisheries resources in the country, contained primarily within the major Rift Valley lakes along the eastern borders with Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia and Uganda, and within the extensive Congo River basin.

Lake Moëro Luapulais a very large lake (4 650 km) lying between the DRC and Zambia. It has historically been an important commercial fishing area because of the strong markets for fish in the nearby Copperbelt and Katanga Province (DRC) mining districts. The DRC sector of Moëro Luapula extends over 1 950 kmor 42 percent of the total lake area. A large swamp/floodplain in the south, formed by the inflowing Luapula River, combines with the lake to form the basis of a fishery complex involving many species, gear types, and local operators. In the lake itself, the main taxa of demersal fishing interest include species of tilapia-type cichlids (OreochromisSerranchromisTylonochromis),ClariasSynodontisBarbus, and Mormyridae. Chisense fishing has expanded rapidly since the early 1980s, to the extent that it is thought to constitute the most important element of the entire complex. Gill nets and longlines are the main gear of the demersal fishery, and boat and beach seines are used in the lamp fishery for chisense. The general evolution of events in Moëro Luapula has been one of rapid growth in effort, lack of effective control measures, the progressive decline of favoured species, and the maintenance of production levels through resort to less valuable species and the development of the small pelagic fishery. There are no reliable figures tracing the evolution of catch and effort on the DRC side of the lake. It is known, however, that harvests declined considerably from the early 1970s, following nationalization of several industrial fishing operations. Global production for the lake in recent decades is estimated to be at or around 13 000 t/year.

Lake Tanganyikacovers some 32 900 km, shared between the DRC (45 percent), Tanzania (41 percent), Burundi (8 percent), and Zambia (6 percent). It is the second-deepest lake in the world (after Lake Baikal), and has a mean depth of 570 m. Fishing intensified considerably over the course of the twentieth century, in association with the dramatic expansion of human population and settlements around the lake and the introduction of various technological innovations, such as paraffin oil (kerosene) pressure lamps for night-fishing, synthetic netting material, and motorized craft. Modern harvest operations primarily exploit six endemic non-cichlid pelagic species. These include the two schooling clupeid sardines (locally known asdagaa),Limnothrissa miodonandStolothrissa tanganicae, together with their major predators, all centropomids of the genusLates,namelyL. stappersiiL. angustifronsL. mariaeandL. microlepis. Of theLatesspecies, the last three are incidental to the catch: the lake’s commercial fishery is essentially based on the two clupeids (ca. 65 percent by weight) andL. stappersi(ca. 30 percent by weight). Lakewide annual harvest levels in recent years have been estimated be in the range of 165 000 to 200 000 t, volumes that translate into annual earnings of the order of tens of millions of US dollars. The DRC estimated catch for 1995 was about 90 000 t, based on extrapolated fishing effort counts. This represents around half of the estimated total lake-wide catch for that year. According to 1995 Frame Survey results, there are 417 landing sites along the DRC coastline, hosting a total of about 26 300 fishers and 10 650 fishing craft.

Lake Kivuis situated between the DRC and Rwanda and flows into Lake Tanganyika via the Ruzizi River. Kivu has a total area of about 2 370 km. Some 1 370 km(58 percent) of its waters lie within DRC borders. Endemic fish include species ofBarbusandClariasHaplochromisandOreochromis niloticus.Fish introduced since the 1950s includeTilapia rendalliOreochromis macrochir, and, from Lake Tanganyika in 1959, the small pelagicLimnothrissa miodon. Establishment and expansion of theL. miodonstock provided for the development of a pelagic lift-net fishery beginning in the late 1970s. This fishery initially developed in the DRC, based on the use of catamarans, and later expanded into Rwandan waters. Since the mid-1980s there has been a switch to more efficient trimaran units. By the early 1990s, following a period of extensive technical assistance provided to the Rwanda sector, around 240 units were active in the lift-net fishery lak-wide. Seventy of these units were reported to be operating within the DRC sector. ‘Traditional’ (non-lift-net) canoes operating in the beach seine, gillnet and handline fisheries are far more numerous in DRC waters. Of the some 2 117 active units reported for the whole lake in the early 1990s, 811 were counted for Rwanda and 1 306 for the DRC. Total fisher numbers at this time were estimated at 6 563, of which 3 027 were associated with the pelagic fishery and 3 536 with the traditional fishery. Total small pelagic landings were estimated at around 3 200 t/yr, and those of other species at around 4 300 t/yr. Fishing activity has been heavily affected by regional civil turmoil and warfare over the past decade, and harvest levels have fallen off accordingly.

Lake Edward. The 2 300 kmarea of Lake Edward is shared between the DRC (1 630 km; 71 percent) and Uganda (670 km; 29 percent). The lake drains into the Semliki River, which flows northwards through the DRC below the western walls of the Ruwenzori Mountains, to discharge into Lake Albert. Edward has provided important fisheries in the past, with harvests composed primarily of tilapia, catfishes (BagrusandClariasspp.), and lungfish (Protopterus aethiopicus). Recent catch returns for the DRC sector are not available. Although the entire DRC shoreline is under the nominal administration of the Parc nationale de Virungu, fishing activity is believed to be largely – if not entirely – unregulated owing to the general breakdown of civil order over the past ten to fifteen years. There are reports that small-mesh nets are in widespread use and that the tilapia stock is now overexploited. When the national park was established, displaced villagers were assigned exclusive fishing rights, to be exercised within the framework of a cooperative society. The society formerly operated with high capacity production (seiners) and processing (salting, drying) facilities, but was apparently beset by administrative and maintenance problems that led to operational failure and the opening up of fishing licences to private individuals. Information collected in the early 1990s puts the number of canoes working the DRC side of the lake at 1 041, of which around one-third were said to be fishing illegally in closed zones (spawning areas). Production from the DRC sector of the lake within this same period was estimated at 11 400 t/yr.

Lake Albert. Shared between Uganda (54 percent) and the DRC (46 percent), the broad waters of Albert (5 270 km) are fed by the Semliki River from the south and the River Nile, which loops in and out of the northern tip of the lake. As with the other great lakes of the Western Rift Valley, Lake Albert contains a great variety of fish. However, the commercial catch largely comprises three species – viz.:Alestes baremoseHydrocynus forskahli, andLates niloticus. The statistical record for the period from the early 1980s to the late 1980s indicates that lake-wide annual catches have fluctuated rather substantially, from lows of around 7 000 t to highs of over 20 000 t. Depressed catch levels reported for the late 1970s through the mid-1980s have been attributed to the weakened performance of the industrial fishery following attempts at nationalization. Rising production levels from the late 1980s have been attributed to the injection of massive quantities of equipment and gear imports under external assistance programmes for Uganda. Many of these inputs eventually found their way over to the DRC sector. Data on fleet size and numbers of operators are sparse. In the early 1990s, it was estimated that around 5 700 canoes were operating lake-wide, and that of these some 3 200 were in the DRC. Of the several industrial units that were active in DRC waters in the early 1970s, only one is reported still to be in operation. Primary sector employment in the early 1990s was estimated to be around 20 000 for the whole lake.

Congo River BasinThe approximately 25 000 kmarea of lake waters is augmented by the Congo River and its several tributaries, including the Uganga, Lualava, Luapula, Lulonga and Tschuapa. The Congo basin contains some 33 000 km of river channels, amounting to about 34 000 km. During periods of high water, floodplains and swamps may expand to cover millions of additional hectares. No exact measurement of flooded areas has been made, and estimates vary from 25 000 to 50 000 km. FAO reports from the mid-1980s indicate: widespread use of traditional methods of fishing using unmotorized canoes, gill nets, seine nets, and handlines; very dispersed effort, with groups of fishers operating from small villages or temporary camps; unknown yields, but up to 20 000 t (fresh-weight equivalent) reaching markets in Kinshasa in 1984; and a potential annual yield of 90 000 t or more.

Luapula Floodplain/Kifakula Depression.See Lake Moëro Luapula, above.

Lualaba Floodplain/Lakes Complex.The Upper Lualaba floodplain, also known as the Kamolondo Depression, is about 250 km long by 40 km wide. It contains more than 50 lakes of all sizes, including L. Upemba (530 km). There are 37 species of fish in all, with main catches consistingMomyrus, Hydrocynus, Alestes, Distichodus, Clarias, Synodontis, Lates niloticusand various tilapia. No recent catch/effort data are available. Early 1980s estimates put annual catches in the 10 000 to 16 000 t range.

Flooded forests in Central Congo Basin. In the Mbandaka region of confluence between the Ubangi and Congo streams, there are vast areas of flooded forests that cover nearly 38 000 km, with fluctuations depending on rainfall and seasonal changes in the Congo River level. The flooded forests are characterized by brown humic waters with low pH, produced by plant fragments suspended in anaerobic and reducing conditions. Of the some 400 species of fish associated with the Congo River Basin, some are endemic and/or specialized to brown waters. Specialized families of fish include those of Protopteridae, Polypteridae, Notopteridae, Clariidae, Anabantidae and Channidae. Catch and effort data for the flooded forest region are not available. Potential annual yield estimates for the region vary widely and range as high as 100 000 to 120 000 t.

Lake Tumba.Associated with the Mbandaka flooded forest region, Lake Tumba is a shallow water body with an area of 765 km(variable) that communicates with the Congo River through the Irebu channel, inflowing or outflowing depending on the floods. Tumba hosts 114 species of fish. No recent catch and effort data are available. Potential annual yield has been estimated in the range of 2 000 to 3 500 t by various observers.

Lake Mayi Ndombeis a large, shallow mid-Congo Basin lake of 2 300 kmwith associated flooded forests and swamps. It discharges via rivers Fimi and Kwa to the Congo. No recent fisheries data are available. Mid-1980s estimates put the number of fishers at around 4 600, and annual catches at around 1 000 t.

Pool Malebo (= Stanley Pool)is a large riverine lake (550 km) shared by the Republic of Congo (330 kmand the DRC (220 km) formed by the widening of the Congo River. (The cities of Kinshasa and Brazzaville lie respectively on the southern and northern banks of the pool, just before the river enters a 350 km stretch of gorge and cataracts that block all navigation and drops the channel from the interior basin plateau elevation of 350 m to near sea level. The Atlantic Ocean at the river’s mouth lies some 400 km to the west of Kinshasa.) There are some 165 species reported for the pool. No recent catch/effort data are available. Mid-1980s estimates for the DRC side put the number of fishers at about 5 000, and the total annual catch in a range of 3 000 to 3 500 t.

Aquaculture

There is no recent information on the state of fish farming in the DRC. Annual aquaculture production was estimated at 700 t in FAO estimates for the late 1980s. Farmed fish were reported as being mainlyOreochromis niloticus

Utilization of the catch

Most of the marine catch is marketed as chilled or fresh fish in Kinshasa markets. Inland catches are marketed in cured form, either as smoked, sun-dried or salt-dried product, except for markets in the immediate vicinity of landing sites, where fresh product is available. Industrial processing (freezing) facilities exist at Kalemie on Lake Tanganyika, but their present status is unknown. Waterborne transport plays a critical role in fish distribution and marketing throughout the eastern Rift Valley lakes region and within the Congo River Basin. Fish is a very popular food item in most areas and demand is exceedingly high. However, the isolated location of many of the water bodies and non-existent or extremely disintegrated infrastructure impose severe limitations on distribution and marketing possibilities. FAO estimates for 1998 put the nationalper caputfish supply at 5.9 kg.

Economic role of the industry

It is not possible to provide a reliable reading on the present contribution of fisheries to the national economy due to the almost complete lack of recent data. It is clear, however, that both the marine and inland sectors overall have undergone significant decline, attendant upon the highly unstable political and economic circumstances that have prevailed in the country over the past decade. In the past, the marine fisheries depended on agreements to work off coastal waters of neighbouring states, since the national coastline and territorial waters are of such limited length and area. As far as is known, it has not been possible to maintain these earlier agreements. Moreover, the poor economic climate has led to physical deterioration of the fishing fleet due to lack of maintenance, spares, fuel supplies, etc. Yields from the inland fisheries are thought to be substantially depressed from previous levels due to shortage of essential inputs and marketing difficulties related to infrastructural breakdowns.

DEVELOPMENT PROSPECTS

For the marine sector, there is no fleet capable of extensive deep-water operations and there would be little rationale for developing fleet capacity under present conditions of global fisheries exploitation. Protracted political instability and economic malaise have justify the inland fisheries in a much reduced state, and development requirements for the immediate term are for restoration of sector performance through infrastructure and input provision. Conditions in the country continue to be unsettled and unpredictable, particularly in the eastern zones around the Rift Valley lakes, and project undertakings will obviously have to wait upon the restoration of civil order. When it becomes feasible to do so, reconnaissance and project formulation exercises urgently need to be carried out on a case by case basis in order to collect updated information on the state of harvest and post-harvest activities, and to determine rehabilitation requirements for each of the major fisheries.

Lake Tanganyika. Work under the Lake Tanganyika Research (LTR) Project (Research for the Management of the Fisheries on Lake Tanganyika (GCP/RAF/271/FIN)) has revealed signs of localized overfishing of pelagic stocks in the waters lying between Burundi and the DRC (Uvira/Fizi area). For the northern DRC sector of the lake, therefore, it would seem advisable for development efforts to concentrate not on increased harvest levels but rather on strengthening management capabilities in support of resource sustainability. Also, improvements in the post-harvest sector would in effect augment present fish supply from the lake by reducing product loss during processing and market distribution, especially during the rainy season, by eliminating spoilage and contamination.

RESEARCH

Little fisheries or aquaculture research has been undertaken in recent years due to widespread civil strife and economic collapse and the withdrawal or forced closure of international fisheries assistance programmes. A partial exception has been the eastern lakes region, where DRC fisheries researchers have been able to participate to some extent in several regional projects.

Regional Project for Inland Fisheries Planning, Development and Management in Eastern/Central/Southern Africa (IFIP). A regional FAO/UNDP project that ran from 1989 to 1992, IFIP aimed at promoting more effective and rational exploitation of fisheries resources in major inland water bodies. Extensive and well documented work related to management and planning for shared water bodies was carried out, including Lakes Moëro Luapula, Tanganyika, Kivu, Edward and Albert. This work involved a number of national sector overviews and field investigations of the state of particular fisheries.

International Decade of the East African Lakes (IDEAL).IDEAL was established (effective 1992-93) as a ten-year project for the investigation of the biological, geological, chemical and physical limnology of the Great Lakes of the East African Rift. Project IDEAL objectives are: (a) to obtain long, high-resolution records of ecosystem change in tropical East African lakes; and (b) to provide a comprehensive training programme for African and international students and scientists in order to strengthen African institutional capabilities in the aquatic sciences and build research partnership between African and northern hemisphere limnologists and paleoclimatologists. In the initial phase of the project, attention has concentrated primarily on Lake Victoria. Outputs thus far include an extensive collection of academic publications, references to which may be reviewed on IDEAL’s website (http://lrc.geo.umn.edu/IDEAL).

Lake Tanganyika Research (LTR) The Research for the Management of the Fisheries on Lake Tanganyika Project (LTR -- GCP/RAF/271/FIN) was formulated on the recommendation of the 1978 1^stSession of the CIFA Sub-Committee for Lake Tanganyika. It became fully operational in 1992, under the execution of FAO, with funding primarily from Finland. The project has since carried out an extensive programme of studies involving hydrodynamics, limnology, fish and zooplankton biology, remote sensing, fish genetics and fisheries statistics. These are fully documented through the LTR publication series. Complementary socio-economic and legal-instititutional investigations completed the foundations for preparation of a regional Framework Fisheries Management Plan (FFMP) for Lake Tanganyika, which is based on principles laid out in the FAOCode of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries. The FISHCODE Project (GCP/INT/648/NOR – Assistance to Developing Countries for the Implementation of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries), based at FAO Headquarters in Rome, provided some additional funding in order to facilitate the FFMP drafting work. After review and discussion with national fisheries authorities of the four lacustrine states, and a series of consultations with local resource user groups, the FFMP was adopted in May 1999 by delegates to the 8^thSession of the CIFA Lake Tanganyika Sub-Committee. A feasibility study for the FFMP Implementation Programme was scheduled for late 1999/early 2000. LTR Headquarters are based in Bujumbura, Burundi, with three sub-stations located at fisheries research offices in the other three States along the lake. The Centre de Recherche en Hydrobiologie (CRH) at Uvira serves as the LTR sub-station for the DRC. More information is available on the LTR website,http://www.fao.org/fi/ltr

Lake Tanganyika Biodiversity Project (LTBP). From 1995, another major undertaking, the Lake Tanganyika Biodiversity Project (LTBP), has complemented LTR’s fisheries-related investigations. Funded for a five-year period by the Global Environmental Facility (GEF) through UNDP, LTBP’s remit is to address wider, basin-scale management problems of pollution control, conservation and the maintenance of biodiversity. It is intended that a sustainable regional management plan be established on the basis of a series of multi-disciplinary studies covering the scientific, technical, legal and socio-economic issues related to conservation of the lake and the basin environment. Focal areas include biodiversity, pollution, sedimentation, socio-economics and environmental education. LTBP and LTR use the same field stations around the lake (Bujumbura, Kigoma, Mpulungu and Uvira), and cooperate as much as possible through the sharing of national staff, technical equipment and documentation, and some survey costs and administrative support. The Project Coordination office is located in Dar-Es-Salaam, and the Scientific Liaison Officer is stationed in Bujumbura. Further information is available from the LTBP website (http://www.ltbp.org).

The Nyanza Projectwas started in 1998 as an IDEAL component intended to encourage African- and United States-based undergraduates and early career professionals to participate in tropical lake science based on Lake Tanganyika. The project’s field office is based at TAFIRI-Kigoma, and overall administration is handled from the University of Arizona. Funding is provided by the US National Science Foundation and the GEF Lake Tanganyika Biodiversity Project.

AID

Many internationally- and bilaterally-funded research and technical assistance activities have been undertaken in the forty years since Independence in 1960, including the IFIP, LTR and LTBP projects noted above. The governments of Belgium and the United States (through USAID) have supported substantial technical assistance work in aquaculture. The last major national fisheries project involving FAO was completed in 1984 (UNDP/FAO ZAI/80/003). The project ended with a national seminar on fisheries at which a number of recommendations were adopted, including a call for the restructuring of fisheries administration and planning procedures. It was agreed that a central planning and monitoring unit should be established to serve as the executive secretariat on a national committee on fisheries. FAO also assisted the sector, when a draft law providing a general legal framework for both marine and inland fisheries was formulated under project GCP/INT/400/NOR (in 1985) and also executing the project "Sustainable Development of Fisheries in West Africa (GCP/INT/735/UK).