Fishing Life in the Bangweulu Swamps: A Socio-ecological Study of the SwalDp Fishermen

ABST'RACl ' rrhe swanlp fishenncn enter into the Bangwculu SWal11pS I'n)Il1 their 111ain village out of the SWal11pS in the dry season wilell the water level decreases. rrhcy £lil11 at selling their catch to the 111arkets in Copperbelt cities. In this paper, fishing 111ethods used by thelll are described, and the catch by each Illethod arc analysed. 'rile SWiUllP lishcrnlen carry their fishing not only in the daytill1e, but also engage in night fishing, by which they can get nocturnal fishes dlcctively. 1"hey {onn the production units called llJallga Jllainly throgh their aflinity for fishing and selling their catch. T'he fishing 1l1cthods selected by thClll elilfcr I'r0l11 IlJall,!!.a to llsanga in a fishing canlp, accordingly, the fishing period, tilne and caught species also vary. Such utilization of the swanlps can be regarded as a segregation alllong the S\Vanlp Ilsh('rl11Cl1, INT'RC)DUCTION Although the Republic of Zarnbia is a landlocked country, it is well provided with large lakes, rivers and swalnps, such as Lake Tanganyika, L,akc Kariba, C~hanlbeshi River, Kafue River and Lukanga Swanlps, in which have a lot of numbers of fish. Fishes provided from the inland waters occupy an il11portant part as the animal food fc)r the people, and inland water fishing has been carried out f()} ' a long time. Fresh water fish can be regarded as one of the il11portant natural resources in this country. The locations of major fisheries of Zanlbia are as follows (Fishery Statistics 1977, Fig. 1, 2)