Sub-Saharan Africa Freshwater Fisheries under Climate Change: A Review of Impacts, Adaptation, and Mitigation Measures

Abstract

Sub-Saharan Africa’s freshwater fisheries contribute significantly to the livelihoods and food security of millions of people within the region. However, freshwater fisheries are experiencing multiple anthropogenic stressors such as overfishing, illegal fishing, pollution, and climate change. There is a substantial body of literature on the effects of climate change on freshwater fisheries in Sub-Saharan Africa. This study reviews the existing literature and highlights the effects of climate change on freshwater fisheries, the adaptation strategies of fishery-dependent households in response to the effects, and fisheries’ management and mitigation efforts in the face of climate change. The general effects of climate change on freshwater environments include warming water temperatures, increased stratification, modified hydrological processes, and increased pollutants. These effects adversely affect the physiological processes of fish and the overall wellbeing of fishery-dependent people. To cope with the effects of fluctuating fishery resources due to climate change, fishery-dependent people have adopted several adaptation strategies including livelihood diversification, changing their fishing gear, increasing their fishing efforts, and targeting new species. Several management attempts have been made to enhance the sustainability of fishery resources, from local to regional levels. This study recommends the participation of the resource users in the formulation of policies aimed at promoting climate change adaptation and the resilience of freshwater fisheries for sustainable development.

The potential impact of aquaculture on the genetic diversity and conservation of wild fish in sub‐Saharan Africa

“…Broodstock are rarely sourced from the wild, and developing alternative sources of broodstock from wild‐harvested stocks are threatened by unsustainable fishing practices. Moreover, seasonality in most rivers and lakes that rely on rain‐fed water makes it difficult to find ready‐to‐breed adults in the wild (Charo‐Karisa et al, 2012; Muringai et al, 2022; Ponzoni & Nguyen, 2008).…”

Balık kafesi su ürünleri yetiştiriciliği için hidroelektrik rezervuarların fizibilitesi: Kenya'daki kuraklık riski olan bölgelerde balık yetiştiriciliğine yönelik bir strateji

“…For example, fish provide 7% of all proteins and 17% of animal protein for the more than 3 billion people living in developing nations (FAO, 2022). The capture fisheries catches in Kenya has been on the decline overtime due to challenges such as climate change and variability, invasive species, overfishing, declining stocks and postharvest losses (Muringai et al, 2022). In response to this scenario, Kenya's freshwater aquaculture industry is quickly growing as a result of the nation's growing fish demand.…”

Effect of Four Treated Forms of Lemna minor on Zootechnical Balance and Digestive Performance of Juvenile Tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in Côte d’Ivoire (West Africa)

“…Nf Survival rate (SR%) = Ni (6) Wf-Wi Daily weight gain (DWG, g/j) = t (7) LnWf LnWi Specific growth rate (SGR, %/j) = t 100   (8) Feed intake (g) Feed conversion ratio (FCR) = Dry weight gain (g) (9) Weight gain (g) Protein efficiency ratio (PER) = Protéins gain (g) The nutrient retention parameters were determined using the following equations as described by Carvalho 43…”

“…But fish meal is the important content of compound feed due to provision of essential nutrients 7 . In Sub-Saharan Africa, though freshwater fisheries contribute significantly to the livelihoods and food security of millions of people, these activities are experiencing multiple anthropogenic stressors, mainly overfishing, illegal fishing, pollution and climate change 8 . In most of these countries, many challenges have been reported concerning the low production and aquaculture practice including site and species selection, environmental impact, lack of awareness, inefficient fishing gears, poor transportation access, poor postharvest handling, low price at the landing site, improper marketplace and lack of infrastructure and technologies.…”