River-floodplains are highly productive environments capable of supporting large fisheries. In the Kavango and Caprivi Regions in Namibia, artisanal gillnet fisheries catch is dominated by three cichlids: Oreochromis andersonii, Oreochromis macrochir and Tilapia rendalli. Their abundance is declining because of increased fishing pressure and their stocks are becoming vulnerable to overfishing. The aim of this thesis was to provide management recommendations for the three cichlids by investigating and comparing their age, growth, reproduction and relative abundance in Lake Liambezi and the Kavango, Kwando and Zambezi Rivers. These four systems present different scenarios whereby Lake Liambezi is a highly productive but heavily exploited area, the Zambezi River is considered heavily exploited and the samples from the Kavango and Kwando Rivers were collected from protected areas where exploitation was low.