Research Article Shesher and Welala Floodplain Wetlands (Lake Tana, Ethiopia): Are They Important Breeding Habitats for Clarias

The Scientific World Journal Volume 2012, Article ID 298742, 10 pages The cientificWorldJOURNAL doi:10.1100/2012/298742 Research Article Shesher and Welala Floodplain Wetlands (Lake Tana, Ethiopia): Are They Important Breeding Habitats for Clarias gariepinus and the Migratory Labeobarbus Fish Species? Wassie Anteneh,1 Eshete Dejen,2 and Abebe Getahun3 1 Department of Biology, College of Science, Bahir Dar University, P.O. Box 79, Bahir Dar, Ethiopia 2 FAO-Sub Regional Office for Eastern Africa, P.O. Box 5536, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 3 Fisheries and Aquatic Science Stream, Faculty of Life Sciences, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 1176, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Correspondence should be addressed to Wassie Anteneh, [email protected] Received 25 December 2011; Accepted 19 January 2012 Academic Editors: S. Brucet and K. Halackaˇ Copyright © 2012 Wassie Anteneh et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. This study aims at investigating the spawning migration of the endemic Labeobarbus species and C. gariepinus from Lake Tana, through Ribb River, to Welala and Shesher wetlands. The study was conducted during peak spawning months (July to October, 2010). Fish were collected through overnight gillnet settings. A total of 1725 specimens of the genus Labeobarbus (13 species) and 506 specimens of C. gariepinus were collected. Six species of Labeobarbus formed prespawning aggregation at Ribb River mouth. However, no Labeobarbus species was found to spawn in the two wetlands. More than 90% of the catch in Welala and Shesher wetlands was contributed by C. gariepinus. This implies that these wetlands are ideal spawning and nursery habitats for C. gariepinus but not for the endemic Labeobarbus species. Except L. intermedius,allthesixLabeobarbus species (aggregated at Ribb River mouth) and C. gariepinus (spawning at Shesher and Welala wetlands) were temporally segregated. 1. Introduction The other commercially important species in Lake Tana, C. gariepinus [8], at the beginning of the rainy season (June- The contemporary Labeobarbus species of Lake Tana (Ethi- July), moves through the littoral areas towards the inundated opia) form the only known remaining intact species flock floodplains and upstream inflowing rivers for spawning [7, of large cyprinid fishes, since the one in Lake Lanao in the 8]. Clarias gariepinus is the most dominant species during the Philippines has almost disappeared due to destructive fishing rainy season upstream of the turbid Ribb River probably due [1]. The vast majority of cyprinids occur in rivers, but some to the availability of extended floodplain [9]. When the water Labeobarbus and Labeo species are adapted to a lacustrine level starts to decrease (October–December), C. gariepinus environment [2]. However, these lake-dwelling cyprinids migrates back through the littoral zone towards the pelagic spawn in rivers, by undertaking a single annual breeding zone (Lake Tana). Clarias gariepinus is targeted by the com- migration up rivers [3]. This spawning strategy makes the mercial gillnet fishery when migrating between the flood- large African cyprinids vulnerable for modern fisheries, since plains (spawning areas) and the lake [7]. Although the large, the fishermen target spawning aggregations at river mouths older individuals proved to be vulnerable for increased mort- by effectively blocking them off from the lake, preventing ma- ality by the commercial gillnet fishery, it is known that, com- ture individuals from reaching the upstream spawning areas pared with Labeobarbus spp.,C.gariepinusis only moderately [4, 5]. Although the causes for the decline are not properly susceptible to fishing pressure in Lake Tana. This is because identified, the migratory riverine spawning species of Labeo- C. gariepinus is found to be more resilient [10]. In the last barbus in Lake Tana have undergone drastic decline (>75% decades, as a result of the low monetary value and poor pre- in biomass and 80% in number) from 1991 to 2001 [6, 7]. ference to this species by the Ethiopians, it was not selectively 2 The Scientific World Journal Ethiopia 37◦300N37◦340N37◦380N37◦420N 12◦20N 12◦20N Ribb River 12◦00N 12◦00N ◦ Welala ◦ 11 58 0 N Lake Tana 11 58 0 N 11◦560N 11◦560N Shesher Woreta 11◦540N 11◦540N ◦ ◦ 11 52 0 N Gumara River 11 52 0 N ◦ 11 0 0 N 11◦500N 37◦300N 37◦340N37◦380N37◦420N Wetlands (study area) Asphalt Lake Rivers Tow n (km) 0 1.5 3 6 9 12 Figure 1: Map of Lake Tana and Ribb River and associated Shesher and Welala floodplain wetlands (after Atnafu et al. [18]). targeted by the commercial gillnet fishery and is mainly livestock. They also harbor large diversity of bird species landed as bycatch [7]. However, according to Atnafu [11], C. including internationally endangered and threatened ones gariepinus recently has become highly preferred fish by the [18]. They are the buffering zones of Lake Tana [17]. How- commercial fishermen in Lake Tana area for dry fish export, ever, due to unsustainable farming activities by local farmers, especially to Sudan. the existence of these floodplain wetlands and associated eco- Various studies [9, 12–17] showed that seven (L. macro- logicalservicesaswellassocioeconomicimportanceisun- phthalmus, L. truttiformis, L. megastoma, L. brevicephalus, L. der threat [18, 19]. It was observed that the local farmers were tsanensis, L. platydorsus, and L. acutirostris) of the 15 endem- draining and pumping the water to expand farming land. ic Labeobarbus species migrate more than 50 km up rivers Another potential threat is the large dam under construction during the rainy season to spawn in fast flowing, clear and on Ribb River that could minimize the water overflowing to gravel bed streams. However, mass spawning migrations for these wetlands [20]. To have management plans for the two the remaining eight Labeobarbus species (L. nedgia, L. dainel- wetlands and also to conduct environmental impact assess- lii, L. gorguari, L. longissimus, L. intermedius, L. gorgorensis, L. ment studies for all future development projects around the surkis, and L. crassibarbis) were missing from all tributaries Lake Tana are strongly recommended. studied so far. According to de Graaf et al. [14], these mis- Probably due to remoteness and inaccessibility, data sing species may spawn in the lake or adjacent floodplain about the ecological importance of the two prominent wet- wetlands. lands, Welala and Shesher, for the migratory fishes of Lake The Shesher and Welala wetlands are located 3–5 km Tana are totally absent. Ribb River charges these wetlands as away from Lake Tana (Figure 1) and are valuable for the local it overflows during the rainy months (July to October) and community. They provide fishes, water, and grazing for form direct connections with the lake during the rainy season The Scientific World Journal 3 Table 1: Sampling sites, estimated distance from the lake, coordinates, elevation, and bottom types of the sampling sites. Estimated Sampling site distance (km) Coordinates Elevation Bottom type from the lake N11◦5954.2 Mud and Silt Ribb River mouth — 1788 m E37◦3306.1 (mixed) N11◦5859.1 Welala I 3.5 1789 m Mud E37◦3612.3 N11◦5838.2 Welala II 3.5 1789 m Mud E37◦3634.9 N11◦5814.1 Welala III 3.5 1789 m Mud E37◦3618.6 N11◦5825.3 Shesher I 4 1791 m Mud E37◦3716.4 N11◦5701.3 Shesher II 4 1791 m Mud E37◦3727.5 N11◦5658.2 Shesher III 4 1791 m Mud E37◦3735.3 through fringes. Therefore, the aim of this study was to in- (personal communication with the local people). This is be- vestigate whether Labeobarbus species and C. gariepinus use cause Welala is smaller in size and deeper (maximum depth these wetlands as spawning and/or nursery habitats. 2.5 m in the rainy season) as compared to Shesher which is wider and shallower (maximum depth 1.75 m in the rainy season). Location, distance from the lake, elevation and bot- 2. Methods tom types of the sampling sites are summarized in Table 1. Coordinates and elevations were assessed with a GPS. The 2.1. Description of Study Area. Lake Tana, Ethiopia’s largest bottoms of these two wetlands are muddy (Table 1) and now- lake and the source of Blue Nile River, has a surface area of ca. adays, during the post rainy season, the local farmers drain 3200 km2. It is situated in the northwestern highlands at an the water by digging canals from these two wetlands to get altitude of approximately 1800 m. It is a shallow (maximum fertile land (the muddy bottom) for crop production [18]. depth 14 m, mean 8 m) lake. More than 60 small seasonal tri- The drastic changes in the areas of Shesher and Welala butaries and seven perennial rivers (Gumara, Ribb, Megech, wetlands in the last two decades are shown in Figure 2.In Gelgel Abbay, Gelda, Arno-Garno, and Dirma) feed the lake 1987, the total surface area of Shesher and Welala was [17]. The only outflowing river is the Blue Nile; however, the ca. 1557 and 298 hectares, respectively (Figure 2(a))[19]. ichthyofauna is isolated from the lower Blue Nile by a 40 m Whereas, in 2008 the surface area of Shesher shrunk to waterfall located 30 km from Lake Tana. Fogera and Dembia 136 hectares (91% shrinkage) and Welala shrunk to 159 floodplains are the largest wetlands of the country and border hectares (47% shrinkage) (Figure 2(b))[19]. These wetlands Lake Tana in the eastern and northern parts, respectively. are shrinking at an alarming rate, mainly because of unsus- Welala and Shesher wetlands (Figure 1) are located in the tainable farming practices by the local inhabitants [18].

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