The area of Lake Mobutu is 5,270 km2. It is shared by Zaire (2,420 km2) and Uganda (2,850 km2). The lake is situated at an average altitude of 618 m; it is about 160 km long and no more than 35 km wide. Maximum depth is 58 m; average depth is 25 m. In the south, the wide delta, which stretches across both Zairian and Ugandan waters, is generally quite shallow (1 to 20 meters). In the north, there is a similar shallow zone. Between those zones on the Zairian side there is a coastal band of shallow water which drops abruptly into a great basin with a maximum depth of 58 m.
The water itself is green, probably due to an abundance of plankton. The ph is 8.5, the water is rich in salts and oxygen at all depths.
The principal commercial species exploited are:
| Scientific name | Common (local) name |
| Alestes grandisquamis/Alestes baremose | sardine |
| Hydrocynus goliath and Hydrocynus forskalii | n'gassia |
| Lates niloticus | capitaine |
| tilapiine species | ndakala |
| Synodontis spp. | fodo fodo |
On average, Characidae represent 40% of the catch and Lates 26%.
Several previous studies estimated yield at 40 to 55 kg/hectare. On this basis, potential yield would be:
| Production | Zaire | Uganda | Total |
| (tons) | (tons) | (tons) | |
| 40 kg/hectare | 9,680 | 11,400 | 21,080 |
| 55 kg/hectare | 13,310 | 15,675 | 29,985 |
According to these estimates, there is an enormous difference between the maximum and minimum yields (about 9,000 tons).
A census carried out by the Lake Mobutu Project in 1988 counted 8,500 fishermen. It is generally acknowledged that this number is rising rapidly. About 1,500 people work in on-shore activities and 500 in marketing. It is therefore undeniable that the fishermen of Lake Mobutu form a veritable small-scale (artisanal) industry.
The fishermen of Lake Mobutu belong to different ethnic groups, with relatively few links among them.
There have been several attempts to create fishermen's associations. The most recent effort was that of the Lake Mobutu Project, which organized fishermen into 5 pre-cooperative associations called “propêche”.
These “propêche” groups still exist at Mahaga north and south (2), Djuga (2) and Irumu (1).
The purpose of the “propêche” was to resell Lake Mobutu Project equipment, earning a 10% commission. Once the project ended, the “propêche” organization stagnated.
During the course of the mission it became obvious that these fishermen lack training and need to become familiar with the nature and operation of a cooperative. Most have no idea of what a cooperative is and probably joined only to derive benefit from the project.
The most common boat on the lake is the wooden plank canoe modelled upon the traditional Ugandan “pirogue”, with a capacity of several tons. There are from 2,000 to 2,500 of these boats. There are also 800 to 1,000 traditional canoes. These boats are not very stable and limit the fishermen to rear shore areas.
Most of the boats are manually rowed and are operated by 1 to 3 men. The extend of their fishing ground is therefore limited. There are very few numbers of motorized boats. These are operated using between 6 and 15 hp outboard engines.
The major obstacles to the distribution of outboard motors, which are necessary if the entire area of the lake is to be fished, are high fuel prices, fuel shortages and the scarcity of spare parts.
The gear most frequently used are gill nets, long lines and beach seines.
Gill nets:
These have a mesh size between 4 to 8 cm, when they are placed on the surface, they catch “n'gassia” and on the bottom they catch “capitaine”. They are constructed of poor quality materials imported from Korea and even the wooden floats and stone sinkers used are inadequate. The lifespan of these nets is short, most must be replaced after only 6 months to 12 months.
The Lake Mobutu Project tried to introduce better quality materials but after a 3-year trial period it was obvious that fishermen preferred to invest as little as possible in equipment like fishing nets which are frequently stolen (Some distant lake zones are underexploited because fishermen are reluctant to go too far, leaving their camps unprotected).
Beach Seines:
This gear is still widely used despite the harmful effects upon the ecosystem. It is suggested that they be progressively eliminated by setting a deadline for their prohibition.
Because there are few motorized units, fuel is expensive and the existing canoes are inappropriate for outings far off-shore, small-scale fishing is concentrated in zones very close to villages and market centres.
The result is that:
some coastal areas are under-exploited;
the distant zones (particularly the large basin at the center of the lake), are un-exploited;
few large-size species are caught.
In conclusion, Lake Mobutu fisheries should be managed in such a way as to achieve rational, balanced exploitation of resources of the entire lake.
In 1989 there was only one semi-industrial (purse-seine) company operating on the lake. The other companies simply owned a few canoes and marketed the fish caught by small-scale fishermen.
Because official statistics are unreliable, it is difficult to provide exact figures for current yield. These, however, are the existing estimates:
In 1987 and 1988 yield for Lake Mobutu was:
| Species | 1987 weight (tons) |
| Alestes | 42 |
| Hydrocynus | 4,014 |
| Lates | 1,663 |
| Oreochromis niloticus | 1,646 |
| Bagrus | 696 |
| Synodontis | 30 |
| Labeo | 7 |
| other species | 311 |
| TOTAL | 8,409 |
| Species | 1988 weight (tons) |
| Hydrocynus / Alestes spp. | 3,533 |
| Lates | 2,613 |
| Tilapia / Orechromis spp. | 4,265 |
| Other species | 1,590 |
| TOTAL | 12,001 |
The spectacular increase in yield in 1988 can only be due to faulty data.
The progressive deterioration over the past 15 years of the only road from Kasenyi to Bunia (55 km, 3 hours drive) and from the port of Mahagi (155 km) has practically isolated the Lake Mobutu fisheries.
There is a general consensus of opinion that the poor condition of this road is the most serious constraint to development of the lake fisheries.
If the catch could be transported fresh, its market value would be much higher; the fishermen would have less work and the fish would be of greater nutritional value. Repairs of the track from Kasenyi to Bunia should therefore be considered a priority for lake fishery development.
Processing techniques used at Lake Mobutu are the following:
(a) Salting/drying
We estimate that 80% of the catch is salted/dried. Most of the salted/dried fish we saw was poorly prepared. The fish were piled in storage overnight and then simply spread onto dryers or even onto the ground in the morning and seldom turned over.
The product was not completely dried and was sometimes even slightly fermented, although this may be intended, to satisfy local taste. Once stored and packaged, it would not have had a very long “shelf life”.
Salting/drying is a business operated by women who resell their products to merchants/transporters. This is truly a small-scale industry, employing from 1,000 to 1,500 people. The market value of this product is lowered by rudimentary processing methods.
(b) Salting in brine
Semi-industrial enterprises place eviscerated fish in large cement tanks of brine for a period of 3 days. This technique is also used at the small-scale level, but for large species only.
(c) Smoking
In the past, large quantities of fish were hot-smoked. Due to indiscriminate cutting of trees, however, the type of wood required became rare and prohibitively expensive. Very little smoked fish is now produced.
(d) Freezing
As road conditions worsened and old equipment was not replaced, the quantity of frozen fish dropped to the current level of only about 10% of the catch.
At Kasenyi, there are three sales points and about 10 wholesalers who regularly transport salted/dried fish. This fish is sent to Bukavu, Beni, Goma, Kisengani and Isiro, with certain markets having a marked preference for certain species. At Bukavu, for instance, only Hydrocynus and “tilapias” are sold.
Ambulatory vendors sell from 0.2 to 3 tonnes of fish at these centres. Because few of them own their own trucks they join forces to rent them.
The port of Mahagi has five permanent merchants, of whom four own trucks.
Most fresh sales are made by fishermen at landing points. There are also salesmen on bicycles called “soupes rouges” (red soups) who buy fish early in the morning at Kasenyi and resell it later the same day in Bunia.
The DAFECN (Department of Land, Environment and Conservation of Nature) has one officer, three junior officers and four agents at Lake Mobutu. The officer and junior officers are responsible for control and enforcement of legislation. The agents collect statistics and (theoretically) supervise and provide extension services to fishermen. It is tought that:
The number of agents are not enough, and there are now several landing points at which no statistics are collected.
These DAFECN agents have none of the equipment which their job requires.
Both officers and agents should be trained in distribution, processing and statistics at the FAO Project at Kinkole.
Lake Mobutu is 5,270 km2 and is shared by Zaire (2,420 km2-) and Uganda (2,850 km2). Zaire therefore possesses 55% of the lake. The administrative situation is therefore the reverse of that of Lake Idi Amin, where Zaire possesses a much larger percentage of the total area.
According to data received there are substantial differences in the degree of development of the two national fisheries. These are:
although fishing and processing techniques are the same, Zaire has a higher number of fishermen and boats, especially motorized units; and
the primary reason for this is the difference in buying power between Zairian and Ugandan consumers. Because people pay more for fish in Zaire than in Uganda, Uganda fishermen tend to fish in zones close to the border and export their catch to Zaire.
Remuneration prices permitted the development of a genuine small-scale fishing industry in Zaire. Consequently, despite the difference in potential. There is higher level of production in Zaire than in Uganda; 13,000 tons in Zaire compared to 6,000 tons in Uganda.
Normalization of the political situation should bring development to Uganda's fisheries. This process should be accelerated by creating development projects in Uganda, bringing fisheries there to a level of development equal to those of Zaire and thereby making it easier to reach fishery agreements of interest to both countries. The pilot project for reviving semi-industrial fishing in particular, should be carried out in both parts of the lake.
