Revista de ecosistemas y ecografía

Abstracto

Potential Impact of Climate Change on Lake Malawi Chambo (Oreochromis spp.) Fishery

Makwinja R and M’balaka M

The study focusing on potential impact of climate change on Chambo (Oreochromis spp.) fishery was conducted in the west coast of Lake Malawi, Nkhotakota using 1991 to 2015 univariate time series data of Chambo catch (metric tons), atmospheric temperatures (°C) and annual precipitation (mm). The Chambo catch data were obtained from Monkey Bay Fisheries Research Station of the Malawi Fisheries Department and the data for temperature and annual precipitation was obtained from Meteorological Department. Using regression models, the study revealed a positive strong correlation between the annual precipitation and annual Chambo catch trend. The coefficient of polynomial regression model (R2) revealed that 74.89% of variation in Chambo annual catch trend was due to annual precipitation (mm). The t-value for temperatures (t=0.853) was not significant (P>0.05), while that of precipitation (t=6.418) was significant (P<0.05) suggesting that annual precipitation significantly influenced the annual Chambo catch trend. The study apparently showed that climate change significantly affects the total landed catch of Chambo in Lake Malawi.