Bibliographical review of fish communities in the Ivorian inland fisheries: what are the indicators for management purpose?

The knowledge of the fish population structure provides information for fisheries management, especially the stocks of species of commercial interest. This study was undertaken with the aim of providing information on the ichthyological populations for the sustainable management of Ivorian inland fisheries. For this purpose, the results of nearly thirty scientific publications have been analysed. A total of 185 fish species were inventoried, including 40 with a marine or brackish affinity and 145 with a freshwater affinity. Streams are the richest in species, followed by rivers, small dam lakes, and hydroelectric reservoirs. These species belong to 23 orders and 46 families. The analysis of diversity in catches reveals that, in all the waterbodies, half of the species belong to six orders and six families. The Siluriformes still have the most species, followed by the Cichliformes and Osteoglossiformes. With regard to the the families, the Cichlidae regularly have the most species, followed by the Cyprinidae and Mormyridae and, to a lesser extent, the Alestidae. In terms of abundance in catches, the species caught most often belong to the Cichlidae, Alestidae, Schilbeidae and Mormyridae families and secondarily to the Claroteidae and Cyprinidae families. This indicates that the Siluriformes, Cichliformes, Characiformes, Osteoglossiformes and Cypriniformes appear to be the dominant orders in the catches of Ivorian inland waters. Studies on the selectivity of fishing gears used to catch these groups of fish would help ensure the sustainable management of these fisheries.