Papers presented at the Symposium on Biology, Stock Assessment and Exploitation of Small Pelagic Fish Species in the African Great Lakes Region. Bujumbura (Burundi). 25-28 November 1992.

This document contains the papers presented at the Symposium on Biology, Stock Assessment and Exploitation of Small Pelagic Fish Species in the African Great Lakes Region. The symposium, jointly organized by the FINNIDA/FAO/AGFUND project Research for the management of fisheries on Lake Tanganyika (LTR) and the FAO/UNDP project Inland Fisheries Planning, Development and Management in Eastern/Central/Southern Africa (IFIP), was held in Bujumbura, Burundi from 25 to 28 November 1992. The Lakes and Reservoirs included in the 20 Symposium papers are Itezhi-Tezhi, Mweru-Luapula, Malawi, Kariba, Kibu, Tanganyika and Victoria. The small pelagic species treated are Limnothrissa miodon, Stolothrissa tanganicae, Rastrineobola argentea, Poecilothrissa moeruensis and Engraulicypris sardella. The topics covered include biology, life history, growth and mortality and various aspects of the fisheries.Small body size is a feature of Limnothrissa miodon in the man-made Lakes Kariba and Cahora Bassa. Recent reliable determinations of their growth confirm the earlier very high estimates of their mortality. These high mortality rates are consistent with the small body size of the fish. A similar allometric relationship applies to the production/biomass ratios. Because most fish die after a few months there is no relationship between fishing effort and catch. Regulating effort may therefore contribute little to the management of this stock. The greatest risk to the fishery is a collapse of recruitment and there is an urgent need to understand the factors that regulate reproduction.