Fishery and Aquaculture Country Profile for Congo, Democratic
Republic of
- aquatic species caught by country or area, by species items, by
FAO major fishing areas, and year, for all commercial, industrial,
recreational and subsistence purposes. The harvest from mariculture,
aquaculture and other kinds of fish farming is also included.
Marine fisheries
The
DRC has a very small Atlantic Ocean coastline, and marine production
is very modest, accounting in the 1980s only for an estimated 2
percent of total national fish harvests. Almost all of the marine
production reported derives from artisanal units using canoes and
beach seines.
Inland fisheries
There are vast freshwater fisheries resources in the country,
contained primarily within the major Rift Valley lakes along the
eastern borders with Burundi, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zambia and Uganda,
and within the extensive Congo River basin.
Introduced Species
Astatoreochromis alluaudi
Clarias gariepinus
Heterotis niloticus
Limnocaridina tanganicae
Limnothrissa miodon
Oreochromis andersonii
Oreochromis leucostictus
Oreochromis macrochir macrochir
Oreochromis mortimeri
Oreochromis spilurus spilurus
Oreochromis mossambicus
Serranochromis robustus robustus
Tilapia zillii
Tilapia rendalli
Cyprinus carpio
Hemichromis elongatus
Protopterus aethiopicus aethiopicus
Eichhornia crassipes
Stolothrissa tanganicae
Utilization of the catch
Most of the marine catch is
marketed as chilled or fresh fish in Kinshasa markets. Inland
catches are marketed in cured form, either as smoked, sun-dried or
salt-dried product, except for markets in the immediate vicinity of
landing sites, where fresh product is available. Industrial
processing (freezing) facilities exist at Kalemie on Lake
Tanganyika, but their present status is unknown. Waterborne
transport plays a critical role in fish distribution and marketing
throughout the eastern Rift Valley lakes region and within the Congo
River Basin. Fish is a very popular food item in most areas and
demand is exceedingly high. However, the isolated location of many
of the water bodies and non-existent or extremely disintegrated
infrastructure impose severe limitations on distribution and
marketing possibilities. FAO estimates for 1998 put the national
per capita fish
supply at 5.9 kg.
