Rain and Copper: The Evolution of a Fish Marketing Channel in a Rapidly Changing Region of Southern Africa

Abbott, James; Hay, Clinton J.; Næsje, Tor F.; Tweddle, Denis; Waal, B.C.W. Van der

doi:10.1080/03057070.2015.991619

Cited by 10 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…This is of concern as many fish populations have come under increasing pressure and declining catch rates, particularly of the larger, more valuable species (Cooke et al ., ; Tweddle et al ., ). One of these species is the African tigerfish Hydrocynus vittatus Castelnau 1861, a large predatory fish species that is endemic to the African continent (Goodier et al ., ), is important in small‐scale fisheries and, is one of the most sought after species by recreational anglers (Abbott et al ., ; Cooke et al ., ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of the movement behaviour of African tigerfishHydrocynus vittatusfor the design of freshwater protected areas

Jacobs

Næsje

Ulvan

et al. 2019

Journal of Fish Biology

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African tigerfish Hydrocynus vittatus (n = 35) were tagged with external radiotransmitters in the Kavango River, Namibia, to determine whether freshwater protected areas could be an effective tool for the management and conservation of this species. They were manually tracked in the core study area of 33 km every c. 12 days from July-October 2016 to May 2017 for between 123 to 246 days. In addition, 14 extended surveys were carried out for up to 680 km to determine the total area use of the tagged individuals. Tigerfish displayed at least two behavioural patterns either having high site fidelity with shorter movements or using larger areas with longer movements. Twenty-three (66%) of the tigerfish had high site fidelity using an area of less than 33 km of river, whereas 12 tigerfish (34%) undertook long distance movements of up to 397 km upstream and 116 km downstream from their tagging locations. During the long-distance movements tigerfish crossed the territorial boundaries of Angola, Namibia and Botswana. Of the 35 fish that were monitored, 14 (40%) spent more than 80% of the monitored time in the 33 km study area and 18 (51%) stayed within the study area for at least 50% of the monitored time. These findings suggest that freshwater protected areas may be a useful management tool and we predict that a protected river area of 2-5 km river length could protect 25.9-34.6% of the population for at least 75% of the time whereas protection of 10 km river length could protect at least 50% of tigerfish for at least 75% of the time. K E Y W O R D Sarea use, behaviour, freshwater protected area, Kavango River, radio tracking, tigerfish

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Implications of the movement behaviour of African tigerfishHydrocynus vittatusfor the design of freshwater protected areas

Jacobs

Næsje

Ulvan

et al. 2019

Journal of Fish Biology

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“…Arguably, one of the most important of these services is fisheries, and fish are a major source of food security and livelihoods for riparian communities (Tweddle, 2010;Tweddle, Cowx, Peel, & Weyl, 2015). Fish communities and the fisheries that they support are coming under increasing threat as a result of several drivers of global change including the introduction of alien species (see Nunes, Douthwaite, Tyser, Measey, & Weyl, 2016), overfishing (Abbott, Hay, Naesje, Tweddle, & van der Waal, 2015;Tweddle, 2010;Tweddle et al, 2015) and decreased flow variation resulting from increasing human demands for water coupled with climate-change-related alterations in precipitation and temperature (Andersson et al, 2006;Bauer & Scholz, 2010;de Wit & Stankiewicz, 2006). These factors typically affect not only flow volumes but also the magnitude of the annual flood pulse (e.g.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparing the fish assemblages and food‐web structures of large floodplain rivers

et al. 2017

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The Upper Zambezi, Kavango and Kwando are large floodplain rivers with substantial biodiversity, providing water and ecosystem services to a large tract of southern Africa. These rivers differ in hydrological regime. The Upper Zambezi and Kavango rivers are in flood for 4 months (March, April, May, June) while, in the Kwando River, floods are later and last for 1–2 months in July and August. The Upper Zambezi River has the largest annual flood pulse, followed by the Kavango River, while the Kwando River experiences small and unreliable floods. During years of exceptional flooding of the Upper Zambezi and Kavango rivers, the rivers are interconnected at peak flows and therefore share a common ichthyofauna. This provided a natural experiment to investigate the responses of fish communities comprised of the same species to differing flood regimes by comparing the fish assemblages and food‐web structures between rivers. Fish assemblage structure was characterised by analysing biomass catch per unit effort data collected using gillnets in all water‐level seasons for all three rivers. Whole ecosystem‐stable isotope data collected once from each river were used to examine differences in food‐web structure and fish feeding ecology between rivers. Due to temporal differences in hydrology, the Upper Zambezi and Kavango river food webs were characterised during the low and falling water seasons, while the Kwando River food web was sampled during the rising water season. In the Upper Zambezi and Kavango rivers, fish assemblages varied with hydrological season due to the homogenising influence of the flood pulse, while in the Kwando River fish assemblages did not change seasonally. The Upper Zambezi River food web had a restricted nitrogen range (NR = 0.90), with a reduced food chain length and predators did not occupy elevated trophic positions compared to those in the Kavango and Kwando river food webs (NR = 1.05 and 0.97 respectively). The Kwando and Kavango rivers are less exploited than the heavily fished Upper Zambezi River, where fishing has reduced the abundance of primary and tertiary consumers, potentially resulting in the observed reduction in food chain length. The Upper Zambezi and Kavango river food webs were based on differing basal resources compared to the Kwando River food web. The Upper Zambezi and Kavango river food webs were likely supported by 13C‐enriched resources such as C4 riparian vegetation from the floodplain, while the Kwando River food web was likely based on 13C‐depleted resources such as filamentous algae and aquatic macrophytes. The influence of the varying flood pulses on the fish communities of these three rivers supports the flood pulse concept. There is also evidence that food‐web structures differ between rivers but, due to differing hydrological regimes in the rivers, further study is required to understand causal factors. These ecosystems are increasingly impacted by human population growth and development, as well as climate change, and improved predictions in fish communit...

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“…Alternatively, this could also mean that large traders involved in the trade flood the markets and depress the prices, and again leading to reduced revenues. Abbott et al [6] also reported that the rise in the number of fish vendors at Katimamulilo market (border between Zambia and Namibia), further reduced the potential profit. An analysis of socio-economic and institutional factors indicates that trading informally between Zambia and DRC has a positive coefficient, which indicates that informal fish trading is more concentrated around Kasumbalesa (Zambia-DRC) border.…”

Section: Factors Influencing Traders To Use Informal Trade Routesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Environmental and socio-economic forces are said to shape artisanal fishery marketing channels in many ways, including growing urban demand, local decline in fish biomass, which favour large-scale aggregators and imports [6]. Abbott et al [6] further reported that global demand for primary commodities, such as copper, which is the main export commodity for both Zambia and DRC, has led to economic growth, in turn, has created centres of prosperity, and hence an increased demand for animal protein. Therefore, centres of prosperity in DRC across the Kasumbalesa border could be one of the key factors behind the push for informal flow of fish products from Zambia to DRC.…”

Section: Factors Influencing Traders To Use Informal Trade Routesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition to limited global participation, Africa's capacity for intra-regional trade potential of intra-regional fish trade in addressing the region's food and nutrition insecurity, as well as poverty reduction through wealth creation, this type of trade is often overlooked and neglected in national and regional policy. While the last 50 years have seen an increase in the role of market surplus from artisanal fisheries within capitalist economies, the inherent complexity of artisanal fisheries makes it difficult to understand their specific relevance to an area's livelihoods and food security [6]. As a result, intra-regional fish trade has largely remained informal, with low volumes traded by artisanal and small-medium enterprises, most of which are headed by women.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Assessment of Informal Cross-Border Fish Trade in the Southern Africa Region: A Case of Malawi and Zambia

Mussa¹,

Kaunda²,

Chimatiro³

et al. 2017

JAST-B

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Intra-regional fish trade has potential in addressing the region's food and nutrition insecurity, as well as poverty reduction, by enabling movement of fish from countries of surplus to those with deficit. However, informal fish trade, just like all informal economic activities, has been overlooked and neglected in many national and regional policies, leading to obscurity of such an important part of the fisheries sector. This study examined the situation in the cross-border informal fish trade in order to deepen our understanding about the traders, the factors influencing the traders to use informal trade channels, the structure of the products traded and the challenges traders face, as well as propose policy direction to enhance the cross-border fish trade in the Southern Africa region. The study revealed that female traders dominated informal fish trade. In both Malawi and Zambia, an estimated 45,285.52 metric tonnes of fish valued at 82.14 million dollars and 102,263.9 metric tonnes of fish valued at 3.3 million dollars were informally traded. The key species involved in informal cross-border trade in Malawi and Zambia were the small pelagics, usipa (Engraulicypris sardella) from Lake Malawi and dagaa (Rastrineobola argentea) from Lake Tanganyika, respectively. It emerged from focus group discussions with informal fish traders and key informants' interviews with border post fish inspection and revenue collection officials that traders are put off by the cross-border regulations. Therefore, it is important for countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region to regularize and formalize cross-border trade, particularly in small pelagic fish species, since this species plays a great role in the livelihoods, food and nutrition security of many people in the region, especially the rural and urban poor. It is also important for governments to support processors and traders to improve the quality of fish being traded, and decentralize issuing of the import/export certificates and other cross-border support documents. Lastly, there is a need to establish informal fish trade monitoring systems to adequately quantify the volumes traded.

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Rain and Copper: The Evolution of a Fish Marketing Channel in a Rapidly Changing Region of Southern Africa

Cited by 10 publications

References 1 publication

Implications of the movement behaviour of African tigerfishHydrocynus vittatusfor the design of freshwater protected areas

Implications of the movement behaviour of African tigerfishHydrocynus vittatusfor the design of freshwater protected areas

Comparing the fish assemblages and food‐web structures of large floodplain rivers

Assessment of Informal Cross-Border Fish Trade in the Southern Africa Region: A Case of Malawi and Zambia

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