Vol. 3, Issue 1, Part A (2021)

A study on the current state of zooplankton diversity in the pelagic zone of Lake Tanganyika along Bujumbura City was conducted from April to July 2020. The objective of the study was to assess zooplankton diversity for sustainable management of fishery resources and the conservation of this ecosystem. Two sampling sites were chosen. The first station was supposed to be polluted whereas the second one was considered as less polluted (or control). Zooplankton was collected with 50μm plankton net at different depths. The results obtained showed a total of 12 species identified in all the sampling stations among which, the copepods group was dominant while the rotifers group was found diversified with seven species (58.3%). The group of cladocerans represented by Moina macrocopa was identified for the first time in the pelagic zone. The calculation of the diversity index has reflected that the waters of Lake Tanganyika are classified into low level pollution category with a tolerable threshold. Therefore, the protection of Lake Tanganyika is necessary for sustainable fishery production and the future studies shall be carried out at several sites with annual sampling at a regular frequency to demonstrate the effect of seasons on the abundance of zooplankton communities.