PSF STEREO : CLIMFISH

The general objectives of CLIMFISH are to (1) investigate the impact of recent environmental changes on the fisheries of Lake Tanganyika using weather and limnological monitoring, fisheries statistics, remote sensing and eco-hydrodynamics modelling (2) use those results and the ECO-SLIM model under expected climate change most likely scenarios to evaluate the future of the fisheries at Lake Tanganyika (3) evaluate the feasibility of developing an ECO-FISH model as a forecasting tool for the managers of Lake Tanganyika fisheries.
The steps to reach those main objectives are:
1. to insure a field monitoring (weather, limnology, fish statistics and biology) from November 2004 to April 2006 (continuation of a 3 years CLIMLAKE monitoring).
2. Develop a remote sensing study for the determination of lake surface T° and Chl-a.
3. Refine and validate the ECO-slim model using remote sensing and monitoring data.
4. Compare the model outputs with fish statistics for the recent period (2002-2006).
5. Use historical data (environment and fisheries) to check model adequacy.
6. Use model approach for preliminary scenarios useful for fisheries predictions.
7. Evaluate the possibility and usefulness to incorporate the fish variable into the model for a CLIMFISH2 project.
The project is a partnership, between the Royal Museum for Central Africa (RMCA), the Liège University (ULG), the University of Namur (FUNDP), the Université Catholique de Louvain (UCL), the Tanzanian Fisheries Research Institute (TAFIRI) and the Department of Fisheries in Zambia (DOF). It is funded by the STEREO program of Belgian Federal Science Policy and the frame agreement of DGCD-Royal Museum for Central Africa (Appendix 5). CLIMFISH was officially recognized as a TIGER project (ESA/ESRIN).