Study on the effect of two construction materials on the efficiency of fisheries aggregating devices (FADs) in Lake Kainji Nigeria

Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs) were experimented in Lake Kainji using worn out automobile lyres and cement blocks for a period of 12 weeks. Six tyres and blocks were tied together separately in 3 replicates and randomly suspended in the lake at a depth of 2 metre and 50 meter interval. After 8 weeks of suspension, a fleet of gillnets with 76mm mesh size and hung at E-value 0.5 were zigzag set across the suspended FADs for 12 fishing periods with 13 hrs soak time (~c1.0268.D.) per period The trial showed that the cement block FADs attracted more fish (70% of the total fish caught) belonging to 6 different species. The lyres FADs attracted only 3 species of fish constituting some 30% of the total fish caught Citharinus citharus dominated the catch of the block FADs constituting 52.3% of the total catch, while Oreochromis niloticus was 46.4% of the tyre FADs. The Horizontal Enhanced Fishing Zone (EFZ) was found to be between 5 to 12 metres from the location of the FADs. There was significant different (P