The survey area consisted of the entire shoreline of Lake Kivu i.e. 1,196 km and its numerous islands, the largest being Ijwi Island with surface of 200 km2. The Lake Kivu is situated at the altitude of 1,463 m, in western part of Rwanda and in eastern part of Zaire, forming a natural border of some 100 km between these two countries (Figure 1). Its total surface is 2,370 km2 of which approximately 1,000 km2 or 42% of the total surface is part of the territory of Rwanda. Its shoreline is not easily accessible by road; roads are very poor, particularly on Zaire's lake side.
The fish fauna of Lake Kivu is poor, consisting of only 26 fish species. There are two species of Claridae, five Cyprinidae, one introduced species of Clupeidae and 18 species of Cichlidae (De Vos, pers. comm.).
There are not well defined fishing villages or settlements since the very high population density, particularly on Rwanda's lake side, results in virtually even distribution of population along Lake Kivu's shoreline. There are three larger towns, all capitals of respective prefectures, Gisenyi, Kibuye and Cyangugu on Rwanda's lake side. The largest city situated on southern Lake Kivu's shore is Bukavu, followed by the town of Goma and two smaller towns of Kalehe and Katana, all situated on Zaire's lake side. The least populated area and the most difficult to access is the lake's northwestern portion.
The Lake Kivu was divided into seven sectors (strata): Stratum I: shoreline of Prefecture of Gisenyi; Stratum II: shoreline of Prefecture of Kibuye; Stratum III: shoreline of Prefecture of Cyangugu, all three in Rwanda; Stratum IV: shorelines of zones of Ibanda, Bagira and Kabare; Stratum V: shorelines of zone of Kalehe; Stratum VI: shoreline of Ijwi Island and Stratum VII: shorelines of zones of Masisi and Goma, all last four strata in Zaire.
There was a total coverage of all strata; the entire shoreline of Lake Kivu as well as that of its numerous islands were surveyed and thus a 100% of all FEU's, active on Lake Kivu between 29.06 and 30.08.1991, were accounted for. The following table provides data on total number of FEU's surveyed in each stratum, their types, number of FEU's which provided information on type and size of fishing boats, gear used and number of fishermen/FEU, and lastly the number of FEU's whose coverage included all required information and thus including socio-economic information on their backgrounds and altitudes, etc… This information was not obtained from the remaining number of fishermen due to their absence and/or unwillingness to respond.
Table 1: Lake Kivu socio-economic survey: sample size
| STRATUM | FEU's: TRIMARAN | FEU's: TRADITIONAL | ||||||||
| Nos | No resp. | % | Socio-economic | % | Nos | No resp. | % | Socio-economic | % | |
| I | 32 | 32 | 100 | 25 | 78 | 248 | 248 | 100 | 248 | 100 |
| II | 44 | 39 | 87 | 39 | 87 | 175 | 174 | 99 | 174 | 99 |
| III | 94 | 92 | 98 | 92 | 98 | 388 | 388 | 100 | 387 | 100 |
| Subtotal | 170 | 163 | 96 | 156 | 92 | 811 | 810 | 100 | 809 | 100 |
| IV | 33 | 33 | 100 | 13 | 39 | 385 | 383 | 99 | 383 | 99 |
| V | 27 | 27 | 100 | 16 | 59 | 529 | 526 | 99 | 104 | 20 |
| VI | 5 | 5 | 100 | 0 | 0 | 310 | 308 | 99 | 38 | 12 |
| VII | 4 | 4 | 100 | 4 | 100 | 82 | 79 | 96 | 34 | 41 |
| Subtotal | 69 | 69 | 100 | 33 | 48 | 1306 | 1296 | 99 | 559 | 43 |
| Total | 239 | 232 | 97 | 189 | 79 | 2117 | 2106 | 99 | 1368 | 65 |
The original questionnaire has been adopted and subsequently tested in Gisenyi. Further modifications were made and the questionnaire finalized after additional testing. The testing provided the opportunity for the initial training of interviewers and allowed them to become familiar with the questionnaire. A more formal training of interviewers followed; it lasted two days during which all four interviewers became thoroughly familiar with all aspects of the survey.
A copy of the questionnaire is presented in Appendix 1. The questions were grouped according to the following six areas of information:
The data collection started in the first and seventh strata and was carried out from 29.06. to 06.07.1991; it was carried out by two teams of interviewers, the first one covering stratum I i.e. Prefecture of Gisenyi and the second covering stratum VII i.e. zones of Masisi and Goma. All travel was by boats, each team using one of the project's Zodiacs.
The data collection second phase continued in strata II, III, IV, V and VI and was carried out from 09.07. to 27.07.1991. For this phase the project's R/V Isambaza FAO 99 was used and which was further supported by two Zodiacs to allow for the fastest possible coverage of the lake's extensive shoreline by two teams of interviewers.
The data collection was completed during its third phase which was carried out from 24.08. to 30.08.1991; only stratum II was revisited in order to complete the interviews with the owners and crews of the numerous FEU's-trimarans.
The coding, processing and analysis of the data was carried out in Gisenyi, where all necessary facilities were available. The coding and inputing the data on dBASE-files took full five weeks. The output consisted of the following information:
The results and analysis of the survey are presented in the following chapters.
