FIRST DATA ON THE ICHTYOLOGICAL POPULATION OF A NEW HYDROELECTRIC LAKE: CASE OF THE DAM OF SOUBRE, COTE DIVOIRE

The new dam of Soubre in Cote dIvoire resulted in the creation of a 17.3 km2 lake in April 2017. After an 18-month ban, the exploitation of fishery resources started and is mainly carried out by foreignBozofishermen. The present study, whose main objective was to conduct the ichthyological inventory of this lake, was executed between August 2019 and July 2021. The artisanal catches of fishermen were examined monthly in the three main landing sites of the lake. The species richness of the lake was estimated at 42 species. The specific weight composition of the catches indicates the predominance of the catfish Chrysichthys nigrodigitatus with 16% of catches.For numerical abundance, the Mormyridae Marcusenius senegalensis leads the catches with a17% rate. It should be noted that this study allowed the observation of specimens of the freshwater shrimp of the genus Macrobrachium upstream of the lake, in the river-lake transition zone, while no individual of this species was captured in the lake.