Lake Malawi Fisheries Surveys, 1939-1955
This page offers access to the three fisheries surveys conducted in Lake Malawi during the colonial period.
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As well as offering an critical resource for understanding the driving principles and ideas that continued to inform and influence fisheries policy in Lake Malawi long after independence, these surveys also offer significant insights into the social, cultural, economic, and political history of the fishing industry while also offering important insights into the natural history of the lake.
For more details on the surveys, please see our Surveying the Fisheries in Colonial Lake Malawi StoryMap.
First Survey Report
C. K. Ricardo Bertram, H. J. H. Borley, & Ethelwynn Trewavas, Report on the Fish and Fisheries of Lake Nyasa
London: Government of Nyasaland, 1942)
Report from the first fisheries survey of Lake Malawi, which occurred in 1939 and was led by Kate Ricardo (Betram after her marriage in 1939), H. J. H. Borley, and Ethelwynn Trewavas.
It was intended to focus on the full lake but was cut short due to the outbreak of World War II.
Second Survey Report
Rosemary H. Lowe, Report on the Tilapia and other Fish and Fisheries of Lake Nyasa, 1945-7 (London: Her Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1952)
Report from the second fisheries survey occurring between 1945-47. This was led by Rosemary Lowe and focused on the biology and life history of the Chambo (Tilapia), especially in the south-east arm of Lake Malawi
(Accessed via Aquadocs)
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Third Survey Report
P. B. N. Jackson, T. D. Iles, D. Harding, and G. Fryor, Report on the Survey of Northern Lake Nyasa, 1954-55 by the Joint Fisheries Research Organization (Zomba: The Government Printer, 1963)
Report from the third fisheries survey occurring between 1954-55. This focused on the northern parts of Lake Malawi and was led by the Joint Fisheries Research Organisation of Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland.
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(Accessed via Bibliography of Lake Malawi Biology)