One of ALCOM's action programmes seeks improved utilization of Small Water Bodies for the benefit of local communities. This programme is implemented by developing, testing and demonstrating methods and techniques for fisheries resource assessment and for sustainable exploitation of such water bodies.
Fisheries monitoring or creel survey data are required as a complement to fish sampling data for assessing accurately the level of exploitation of a water body and the effect of this exploitation on the resource base. This report describes one method for collection of fisheries monitoring data and presents the data collected.
Fisheries monitoring through creel surveys has also been carried out by ALCOM on small reservoirs in Eastern Province, Zambia, using an approach slightly different from the one used here. These two survey designs will be compared by ALCOM, so that an improved creel survey method for small reservoir fisheries in the SADC context can be elaborated.
This survey forms part of the pilot project “Utilization of Small Water Bodies Lesotho” which was initiated in 1989. It is executed by the Fisheries Section of the Ministry of Agriculture, Co-operatives and Marketing, in collaboration with ALCOM and the Department of Youth and Women's Affairs. The survey covered a one-year period from March 1991 to February 1992.
