Fish Weight and Species Diversity of Traditional and Modified Malian Traps in Tagwai Dam of Niger State, Nigeria

Abstract

Over the last century riverine ecosystem have suffered from intense fishing, resulting to over exploitation and extinction of several species of fish. This study seeks to determine fish weight and species diversity of Tagwai Dam using traditional and modified Malian traps. The traps were designed using computer paint application and constructed with Mimosa pigra wooden frame. Traditional Malian trap (TMT) has cone shape, while the modified Malian traps has semi-circular (MSCMT) and rectangular shape (MRMT) respectively. The traditional Malian traps were enclosed in 3.75 cm mesh-size while the modified Malian traps were both enclosed in a netting material of 5 cm mesh-sizes (Standard). A total of 236 fishes were caught by both traps. traditional Malian trap caught fishes comprising of Sarotherodon galileus. Tilapia zilii, Clarias gariepinus, Oreochromis niloticus and Synodontis membraneceous. While modified semi-circular Malian trap caught fishes of similar species and modified rectangular Malian traps caught fishes which were similar species with addition of Hydrocynus forskalii. The total weight of the fish caught were 7,247.20 g, 4,154.20 g and 4,209.78 g for (TMT), (MSCMT), and (MRMT) respectively. There was no significant difference (p>0.05) in the biomass and species of fish caught with the Traps. This shows that despite the large netting mesh size of the modified Malian traps and low number of catches, it has the potential of competing favourably with its traditional counterpart. Therefore, modified Malian traps of this nature are recommended as tools in the study of ichthyofaunal composition and sustainable management of fishery resources.