JRS and Tusk Trust have partnered to support the biodiversity research capacity of African NGOs to build on outstanding advocacy and conservation efforts. In 2025-26 JRS is supporting four Tusk partner organizations located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Comoros, Gabon and Kenya. Here we highlight one of the project teams: OELO Gabon, a Gabonese NGO with a mission to conserve biodiversity and ensure ecosystem services in the Bas Ogooué lake region by mobilizing local communities to manage critical fishery resources. Details about a recent 8-day training conducted on Lake Oguemoué follows.
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Last week our team held an 8-day training on Lake Oguemoué with technical partner Aquatic Ecosystem Services (AES), in collaboration with the Directorate of Aquatic Ecosystems of the Ministry of Water and Forests (Direction Générale des Ecosystèmes Aquatiques) and the Fisheries and Aquaculture Direction of the Ministry of Fisheries (Direction Générale des Pêches et de l’Aquaculture – DGPA). Ten fishers from five lakes (Ezanga, Gomé, Adolet, Onangué, Oguemoué) were trained to collect data on species caught, fish sizes, by-catch, fishing methods, among other information on their home lakes. Four agents from the DGPA and the DGEA also participated in the training. This effort will establish important baseline information about fisheries, empowering local fishers to promote sustainable practices in their communities and providing readily accessible data to enable the administration to create fisheries management plans in new lakes, assuring fisheries resources and biodiversity for future generations. On lake Oguemoué, this data has been collected by local fishers since 2014, before the creation of Gabon’s first freshwater management plan, and has since recorded the return of migratory fish species to the lake, improvements in catch per unit effort, and the prevention of African Manatee by-catch. Data is to be uploaded and shared on an online portal and shared with the lake communities in a sustainable initiatives inspired by the “Our Lake, Our Future” model developed on Lake Oguemoué. Thanks to donors and partners — Tusk, JRS Biodiveristy, UNDP/GEF7 for supporting this training! Photo credit: Olivier Ebanga.
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Read more about the JRS-Tusk Trust Partnership here.
Read the full OELO Gabon Facebook post with more photos here.