2.2 Sampling design
The study area covered approximately 15 km of the river with a total of
3 sampling points. This sampled section is invaded by O.
niloticus . At each sampled site a total of three (3) sampling points
were selected with a river distance of about 7.2 km apart. Each sampling
point had a total of 200 meters stretch covered encompassing all the
available five (5) microhabitat type (runs, riffles, vegetative thicket
point, open pool (near fisheries landing area) and the tributaries.
Sampling of the fish was conducted in the entire 5 selected
aforementioned habitat present in each sampling point. Therefore, a
total of 3 sampling points with 15 microhabitats were sampled in the
sections of the upper Kabompo River from December 2019 to June 2020.
The studies by Bok and Bills (2012) and DoF (2018) showed that the
sampling points have a greater similarity in presence of the exotic and
native fish species, rainfall pattern, environmental condition and
general water flow regime despite the unique natural barrier that
separates them. Due to the proximity of the sampling points, it made the
two points of the river easer for exploring their dietary preferences.