Abstract.When a survey of fisheries in the Sudd, River Nile, southern Sudan, was carried out between 1980 and 1983, the wetland had more than doubled its size since the 1950s. Seasonal fishing continued to be an integral part of the subsistence economy of the region. A few species of fish (e.g. Clarias) were caught in large quantities with spears on the floodplain during drydown, and a wider variety of fish (e.g. Distichodus, Citharinus, Heterotis, Lates, Gymnarchus, tilapias and large mormyrids, catfishes and characids) with nets and hooks in the channels, lakes and vegetation of the perennial wetland. Year‐round fishing had increased as a result of the loss of grazing by swamp encroachment. Canoe estimates ranged between 4000 and 7500, and daily landings of 17–28kg per canoe were recorded In the southern Sudd. Fish were consumed fresh or sun‐dried. Commercial production was estimated at 700t and 68t respectively of processed sun‐dried and salted, sun‐dried fish in 1982. Fishery resources were underexploited but an expansion of the commercial sector was constrained by a scarcity of bulk collection, transportation and storage facilities, and a lack of commitment by fishermen. Unless natural river discharges reverted to pre‐1961 levels, construction of the Jonglei Canal (now halted) was not a threat to fisher
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