Traditional Fisheries of Rainforest Rivers in the Campo-Ma'an Area of 



Southern Cameroon 



Randall E. Brummett', Jacqueline L. N. Youaleu \ Ann-Marie Tian^ and Mireille M. Kenmengne^ 



This article presents a different type of bushmeat - aquatic bushmeat. The authors describe traditional 

 fisheries in rivers of rainforest ecosystems. The case of the Campo-Ma'an Area of Southern Cameroon is 

 analysed to illustrate that the aquatic animal resources of rainforests are important targets of community 

 activity. 



Forest waterways are important fishery resources that have underutilised potential to contribute to the 

 livelihoods of forest dwellers and those beyond. Typical of these systems are fisheries in Lower Guinea rainforest 

 rivers (and the forested part of the Congo Basin) that are comprised of two main exploitation systems 

 corresponding to commercial and traditional fisheries. The commercial gill-net fishery target primarily catfish 

 during low-water fishing seasons and are generally operated by men, including full-time and seasonal fishers. 

 Fish caught in this activity is often smoked and stored prior to marketing, providing seasonal food and income for 

 the fisher family On average, men fish about 1 44 days per year, capturing an average of 330 kg offish, for a catch 

 per unit of effort (CPUE) of 1 .8 kg/fisher/fishing day. Fishery productivity in the Nyong River, just to the north of 

 the Campo-Ma'an area, has been estimated at 1.3 tons/km' or 13 kg/ha of watershed (Brummett et al. in press). 

 This is similar to the 1 6 kg/ha of watershed reported for the upper Cross River (Mdaihli et al. 2003). 



The traditional fishery in the Lower Guinea, is dominated by women who focus their efforts on the thousands of 

 kilometers of smaller first and second order streams that permeate the rainforest. Basket traps and small dams 

 (alok) are used to capture a wide range of small fish and crustaceans that are consumed directly by the family, 

 contributing to household food security. The harvest, however, is small. In 1 6 aloks observed over the course of a 

 year, the average weight offish harvested per alok was 5.14 kg per 280 meters of stream, distributed among an 

 average of 23 people, for a return of 220g per person. With an average investment of 5 working hours per alok 

 (including dam construction), each fisher receives 40g fish per hour of work (Figure 1 ). 



Figure 1. Apportioning a typical alok harvest among 

 the fishers (photo RE Brummett). 



Due to low quality carbon and 

 phosphorus inputs from the forest, 

 low alkalinity and low levels of 

 sunlight, the productivity of 

 rainforest streams is generally low 

 (Farjalla 2002, Davies et al. 2008). In 

 the small streams sampled in the 

 Campo-Ma'an area, the fish and 

 crustacean standing stock is 26 

 g/linear meter. Extrapolated to the 

 6,610 km of the 1096 low-order 

 watercourses in the Campo-Ma'an 

 National Park and buffer zone, the 

 harvestable fish standing stock can be 

 estimated at 1 72 tons. 

 According to local people 

 interviewed, these streams are 

 harvested on an average every three months, throughout the year. In an attempt to determine the effect 

 of this level of fishing pressure, a study was undertaken on the Bikobikone River. Assuming that the 

 villagers are correct and that these streams can be harvested every three months without significantly 

 reducing the total fish biomass over time, the total annual harvestable production is a bit less than 700 

 tons. This has a local retail value of about $700,000. Calculated per hectare of watershed, the total of 0.9 

 kg/ha is only 6% of the 13-16 kg/ha estimated from annual catch rates in the main rivers of the Nyong 



' WorldFish Center, Cameroon. Email: r.brummett@CGIAR.ORG 



WorldFish Center, Cameroon 

 ^ Center for International Forestry Research, Cameroon 



WorldFish Center, Cameroon 



Nature & Faune Vol. 23, Issue 1 



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