Pond fishing in the Congolese cuvette: a story of fishermen, animals, and water spirits

Comptour, Marion; Caillon, Sophie; McKey, Doyle

doi:10.4000/ethnoecologie.2795

Cited by 10 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 29 publications

(11 reference statements)

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“…Sautter (), who visited the region in the 1950s, described a wide range of fishing gear. Our observations and interviews also show that fishers combine a large variety of fishing techniques, allowing them to exploit the diversity of habitats and to capture a large number of fish species (Comptour, ; Comptour et al., ). Fishing is done both in the floodplain and in the Congo River and its tributaries.…”

Section: Pluralist Livelihoods Of the Congo River Its Islands And Fmentioning

confidence: 73%

“…In the 1950s, the colonial administration estimated that 6,000 migrant fishers came every year, for a few weeks or months, to exploit the waters near Mossaka (Sautter, ). Migrants particularly favoured fishing in the Congo River, because, in contrast to floodplain fisheries, which are regulated and taxed by local lineages, the Congo River was (and remains) freely accessible (Comptour et al., ). Fishers, often accompanied by their families, settled in camps on the shores of islands.…”

Section: Why Has Flood‐recession Agriculture Been Adopted?mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Agricultural innovation and environmental change on the floodplains of the Congo River

Comptour

Cosiaux

Coomes

et al. 2019

Geographical Journal

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Climate‐driven environmental changes bring new risks but also opportunities to populations living along the world's major rivers. Based on ethnoecological fieldwork, in this paper we examine how people living in the cuvette centrale of the Congo basin have adopted flood‐recession agriculture on islands in the Congo River, taking advantage of a secular shift since the 1980s in the hydrological regime of the Congo River. Analyses of the hydrological data reveal that this shift decreased flood risk and significantly extended the growing season on the islands, long enough to enable cultivation of fast‐maturing varieties of manioc and other crops. Flood‐recession farming on islands in the river is today not only an important source of food, but also a source of income for women, who are primarily responsible for seasonal cultivation of fields during the low‐water season. Hydrological changes alone are insufficient to explain the adoption of the new agricultural practice; adoption also arose as a result of dynamic interactions among river fishing, trading, and broader socio‐economic forces. Climate‐change models project an increased frequency of extreme floods. Our results suggest that this change may limit island cultivation in the future. More generally, our findings point to the importance of looking beyond single‐factor, solely environmental explanations in studies of climate‐change adaptation.

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Section: Pluralist Livelihoods Of the Congo River Its Islands And Fmentioning

confidence: 73%

Section: Why Has Flood‐recession Agriculture Been Adopted?mentioning

confidence: 99%

Agricultural innovation and environmental change on the floodplains of the Congo River

Comptour

Cosiaux

Coomes

et al. 2019

Geographical Journal

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“…At Boende, on the Tshuapa river, closer to Bolondo, a similar pattern was observed between 1916 and 1955 (Devroey, 1957: 289). These dry seasons are ideal for fishing as the lowering of the waters results in the formation of ponds and small lakes, both of natural and anthropic origin (Inogwabini, 2005;Comptour et al, 2016). It is obvious from the species composition and the preponderance of shallow water fish taxa at Bolondo and Nkile that these are the aquatic environments that were preferably exploited for the fish they contained.…”

Section: Fish Exploitationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Subsistence strategies in the Inner Congo Basin since the 14th century AD: the faunal remains from Nkile and Bolondo (DR Congo)

Nieblas Ramírez,

Linseele,

Wim Wouters

et al. 2023

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The faunal remains are described from Nkile and Bolondo, two archaeological sites in the equatorial rainforest of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both river-side settlements, located in the Ruki-Tshuapa basin and dating to between the 14th century to the second half of the 20th century, show a heavy reliance on aquatic food resources. The animal remains show that fishing was a major subsistence activity, whereas hunting, slaughtering of domestic stock and harvesting of molluscs were less frequent activities. The contribution to the diet of the different animal taxa suggested by the zooarchaeological data is in line with recently published stable isotope results obtained on humans and animals from Bolondo. The type of fish, and in particular their reconstructed sizes, show that the major exploited fishing grounds were shallow waters that became accessible during the low water seasons (nowadays July-August and a minor season in March at both sites). The proportions of the exploited fish taxa are comparable to those marketed nowadays in larger urban centres. Juvenile fish, and to some extent, small crocodiles, were heavily exploited but it is argued that at the time this was still a sustainable activity that did not deplete the fauna as much as today since human populations were smaller and the fishing gear less effective.

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“…Mosongo has only recently been reported along the Motaba [ 102 ]. The geographically closest prior reports of mosongo are from several groups of Bantu C-20 language-speakers in the southern part of the ecoregion in the Cuvette some 300 km away [ 103 ]. There, inland fishing is a major economic activity, and pond fishing is widely practiced.…”

Section: Social Links Diverse Opportunities: a View From Contemporary...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Social ties in the Congo Basin: insights into tropical forest adaptation from BaYaka and their neighbours

Boyette

Lew‐Levy

Jang

et al. 2022

Phil. Trans. R. Soc. B

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Investigating past and present human adaptation to the Congo Basin tropical forest can shed light on how climate and ecosystem variability have shaped human evolution. Here, we first review and synthesize genetic, palaeoclimatological, linguistic and historical data on the peopling of the Congo Basin. While forest fragmentation led to the increased genetic and geographical divergence of forest foragers, these groups maintained long-distance connectivity. The eventual expansion of Bantu speakers into the Congo Basin provided new opportunities for forging inter-group links, as evidenced by linguistic shifts and historical accounts. Building from our ethnographic work in the northern Republic of the Congo, we show how these inter-group links between forest forager communities as well as trade relationships with neighbouring farmers facilitate adaptation to ecoregions through knowledge exchange. While researchers tend to emphasize forager–farmer interactions that began in the Iron Age, we argue that foragers' cultivation of relational wealth with groups across the region played a major role in the initial occupation of the Congo Basin and, consequently, in cultural evolution among the ancestors of contemporary peoples. This article is part of the theme issue ‘Tropical forests in the deep human past’.

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Pond fishing in the Congolese cuvette: a story of fishermen, animals, and water spirits

Cited by 10 publications

References 29 publications

Agricultural innovation and environmental change on the floodplains of the Congo River

Agricultural innovation and environmental change on the floodplains of the Congo River

Subsistence strategies in the Inner Congo Basin since the 14th century AD: the faunal remains from Nkile and Bolondo (DR Congo)

Social ties in the Congo Basin: insights into tropical forest adaptation from BaYaka and their neighbours

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