DYNAMIC OF FISHING ACTIVITY ON THE SOLOMOUGOU DAM LAKE (KORHOGO, CÔTE D'IVOIRE)

In northern Côte d'Ivoire, fishing is mainly practiced in agro-pastoral Dam Lakes. Previous studies on some of them indicated the possibility to increase their exploited production. This study was conducted from October 2018 to September 2019 on the Solomougou Dam Lake. Its objectives are to study the intensity of fishing activity and the rate of exploitation of this fishery. It appears that fishing is practiced throughout the year on this lake. However, 54.54% of fishermen stay there less than 6 months, also exploiting other fisheries in the region. Less frequented from August to October, its colonization gradually increases from November to reach the peak in March. Fishing gears are used seasonally. In fact, traps and gillnets are less used respectively during low water and flood periods of the Dam Lake. Sparrow hawks, less used by fishermen, are however used throughout the year while the use of longlines, bamboo traps and seine nets is limited to a few months. In terms of exploitation of the fishery, a density of 6.6 fishermen per km2 would be observed in a situation of full exploitation indicating a state of overexploitation of the fishery. However, taking into account fluctuations of fishermen’s number per month, their densities ranged between 0.8 and 2.6 fishermen per km2 from July to December, indicative of normal exploitation of the fishery and between 3.2 and 4.2 fishermen per km2 outside this period, a little above the recommended standards.