Growth and status of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus L.) stock in Lake Chamo, Ethiopia

Global inland freshwater fisheries support livelihoods for several million people. These important resources, however, are suffering from excessive overfishing as a result of increasing fishing pressures attributable to an increased human population and subsequent demand for food and economic livelihoods. To this end, very little is known about the vital population parameters and stock status of Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) in Lake Chamo in Ethiopia. Thus, the present study focused on determining the Nile tilapia population parameters and assessing their stock status in Lake Chamo, using length‐frequency and catch‐effort data collected between February 2018 and January 2019 from commercial fish catches from 10 major fish landing sites. The TropFishR software package was used to determine von Bertalanffy growth parameters, and length‐converted catch curve and empirical models were used to calculate mortality parameters. The maximum sustainable yield (MSY) and its corresponding level of effort (f MSY) were determined using the length‐based Thompson & Bell yield prediction model. The growth parameters L ∞, K and Ф′ of the Nile tilapia stock were found to be 59.4‐cm, 0.41/year and 3.16, respectively. The annual rate of total (Z), natural (M) and fishing mortality (F) were estimated to be 2.442, 0.558 and 1.884/year, respectively. The calculated current yield (711 t/year) is lower than the predicted values of MSY (771 t/year). The present level of fishing effort (2564 nets/day) is more than twice higher than the optimum level of fishing effort (1026 nets/day), clearly indicating overfishing of the Nile tilapia stock in the lake. This finding is also substantiated by the high level of exploitation rate (E = 0.771). Thus, a recommendation based on the results of the present study is a 60% reduction in the fishing effort (1538 nets/day), which will also provide a higher fish yield. The results of the present study also are useful facilitate development of appropriate management strategies for the Nile tilapia fishery in Lake Chamo.