Assessment of water quality parameters of Lake Chamo implications for freshwater fishes, Gamo Gofa Zone, Southern Ethiopia

Water quality determinants are important indicators for monitoring changes in physical, chemical and biological properties of aquatic ecosystems, and are excellent sentinels for demonstrating linkages between aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems. In this study triplicates of water samples were collected from onshore and offshore locations in Lake Chamo, and analysed for surface water temperature, dissolved oxygen, pH, biological oxygen demand, suspended solids, salinity, alkalinity, major nutrients and phytoplankton biomass during the study period. The main objective of the study was to evaluate the conservation status of Lake Chamo by comparing results of present study with the recommended standards for warm freshwater fishes. The study showed mixed outcomes where results for most of the variables demonstrated favourable conditions whilst results for suspended solids, turbidity, sechi depth, conductivity and salinity revealed potentially threatening environment for fishes. Increasing vegetation cover and improving buffering capacity of wetlands circumscribing Lake Chamo are recommended as an alternative solution to downscale the effects of outlying variables to sustain production and productivity of fishes in Lake Chamo.