A Survey on fishes in Chefa Wetland around Kemisse, Oromia Zone, Ethiopia

Abstract

A preliminary survey of fishes was carried out in Chefa wetland in April and October, 2009 using gillnets of stretched mesh size from 6-12 cm, monofilaments of different mesh size, hook and line, and beach seines. A total of 1171 fish specimens were collected in both dry and wet seasons from the three sampling sites: Gulo, Hot spring and Nursery sites. Fish species identification was made using appropriate techniques Index of Relative Importance (IRI) and Shannon index (H) were used to evaluate abundance and diversity of fishes in Chefa wetland. Two families, three genera and four species were recorded from the three sites. Family Cyprinidae was best represented in all sites. Clarias gariepinus, Garra dembecha, Labeobarbus intermedius and Labeobarbus nedgia were recorded in Chefa wetland. Clarias gariepinus and Gara dembecha were the dominant fish species in Chefa wetland with percentage IRI of 40 and 31.4 in dry season but during wet season,Clarias gariepinus and Labeobarbus intermedius were the dominant fish species in the wetland with percentage IRI of 68 and 26 respectively. The Shannon diversity index value of Gulo site was higher than either of Hot spring and or Nursery in dry season (0.94, 0.69 and 0.9) respectively. Chefa wetland has high fishery potential nonetheless  the vegetation (Typha latifola) used as nursery ground for fish is destroying at an alarming rate to use it as raw material for mattress and other house hold materials. Therefore, proper wetland management should be implemented.