Lake Tana's (Ethiopia) Labeobarbus Species Flock (Cypriniformes: Cyprinidae): a Future of Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Exploitation?

Lake Tana, the source of the (Blue) Nile, is situated in the north-western highlands of Ethiopia and harbours an extraordinary diversity of cyprinid fishes. While cyprinid fishes are common and abundant throughout the world’s fresh water systems, the Labeobarbus species of Lake Tana form the only remaining intact species flock of large cyprinid fishes. Lake Tana and its Labeobarbus species flock provide(d?) an unique opportunity to study the selective forces driving speciation due, among others, to its relatively undamaged state. However, this undamaged state of the Labeobarbus species flock is seriously threatened by anthropogenic activities that have intensified over the past 30 years. Between the 1990s and early 2000s, Labeobarbus stocks decreased by 75%, most likely due to the increased fishing pressure after the introduction of a motorized commercial gillnet fishery. Many of the lake’s Labeobarbus species are highly vulnerable to exploitation during their spawning aggregations and upstream migrations. Erosion due to poor land use might have also contributed to habitat degradation of the upstream spawning sites. Between 2000 and 2010 the commercial fishing fleet has expanded from 5-10 to 50-100 boats, but the Labeobarbus CPUE of the commercial fishery appeared to have declined a further ~50% over the same period. A (final) blow to the survival of the species flock will probably be the planned and realized (Rib River) irrigation dams in the spawning rivers