Ichthyodiversity and conservation importance of the Jakhor Taal in Kailali district, Farwestern Nepal

Jakhor Taal is an ox-bow perennial lake, situated in Dhangadhi sub-metropolitan city in Kailali district, Nepal. The present study focused on the factors determining fish diversity, socio-economic status of fishing communities and conservation challenges of Jakhor Taal. Fish sampling was done by Gillnet, Cast net and other local fishing gears such as Helka, Tiyari net and Dhadiya. A total of 24 fish species (8 exotic and 16 native) were recorded belonging to 7 orders, 14 families and 22 genera. The order Cypriniformes was found to be highest obtaining 41.66% among the total fish species recorded and 65.38% of total fish caught during the study period (February 2019- August 2019) followed by Siluriformes (20.33%) and Perciformes (16.67%), respectively. In the diversity index, in case of season, the Shannon-Weiner diversity index was found high (2.93) in winter (February) and low (2.76) in summer (July). Similarly, the Simpson and Evenness values were also found slightly high during winter (February) in comparison to summer (July). In case of the stations, the Shannon-Weiner diversity index was found high (2.73) at the station II in compare to the station I, III, and IV which is 2.31, 2.09, and 2.04, respectively. Results from the Redundancy analysis (RDA) revealed that the environmental variables such as water temperature, depth and dissolved oxygen were found to be highly significant to most of the fish species for different stations and months. However, pH and free CO2 has not shown any relation or significance. Altogether, 22 clusters were formed in which exotic species show highly significant cluster in comparison to that of native species. The socio-economic status of the local fishing communities found below the poverty line and the lake and its resources play the vital roles in their diet and income source. In context to conservation challenges and implications, this lake is highly neglected by both governmental and local communities which negatively affected its natural properties by habitat destruction, illegal fishing, urbanization, invasive species, and the lack of awareness.