Water Quality and Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) of Fish Species in Zobe Reservoir, Dutsin-Ma, Nigeria

Abstract

A twelve month study was carried out between March 2020 and February 2021, to assess water quality parameters and fishermen catch per unit effort of Zobe reservoir in Katsina State, Nigeria with the aim of understanding the contamination position of water body and fishing effort. Five chosen sampling stations are; Raddawa, Tabobi, Gada, Garhi, and Makera. Selected physicochemical parameters such as temperature, pH, NH₃, turbidity, alkalinity, BOD and alkalinity were assessed using standard methods. However, they were within all the recommended level for optimum performance of tropical fish species. Individual fishermen catch was used throughout the study period, where each of the five (5) Landing sites was visited twice monthly for catch assessment survey. Fish samples were randomly collected from 5 canoes/fishermen per sampling unit and catches were observed and recorded. There was high catch in the month of July and August (wet season) for all the species in Zobe reservoir. In contrary, there was strong negative correlation between temperature and DO; pH and DO; turbidity and DO; DO and BOD; DO and alkalinity. Makera had higher catches than any of the other stations with more than 700 bi-weekly catch representations between the months of July and August, 2020. Dry season CPUE was up to 22% for wet season and 9.80% for Clarias gariepinus in Garhi fishing station which recorded the highest, whilst for Clarias anguilaris CPUE recorded absolute zeros for all the stations and for both seasons except for Makera in wet season with 0.08% CPUE. Physicochemical parameters of Zobe reservoir showed that the water quality of Zobe reservoir changes with season, however, the parameters were within an acceptable range for fish growth and dependency of fish catch and water quality was observed.