05/05/2026
Community data collectors are recording important baseline information on fisheries in their home lakes including catch sizes, species caught, fishing methods, and bycatch in 5 new lakes of the Bas Ogooue (Ezanga, Onangué, Adolet, Gomé, Inyogo). This past week our team, with experienced Lake Oguemoué community data collector Martial Angoue, visited the new lakes to improve quality of data collection and answer questions and any concerns of new collectors and their lake communities. Thanks to technical partners at AES, and to the Darwin Initiative, Tusk Trust and JRS Biodiversity Foundation for funding this important work. Monitoring changes in fisheries will help local communities and administrative partners better understand lake fisheries, recording how they evolve over time, as fisheries management plans are created and implemented. As an added bonus many fishers offered small tissue samples of bagrid catfish and African threadfin to test mercury levels in local freshwater fish (in partnership with the Aquatic Ecosystems direction of the Ministry of Water and Forests).