Residents, expert lament as oil spillage deter fishing in Niger Delta – Report
Resident fisherwomen of communities across the Southern, oil rich region of the country popularly referred to as the Niger Delta have sounded the alarm on the negative effects of oil spillage on their fishing activity and economic survival.
The Niger Delta has historically been bedeviled by pipeline vandalism, oil bunkering and indifference of operating oil firms to the environmental degradation caused by their activities. A recent report corroborated several other reports over the years chronicling the destruction of the ecosystem around the Niger Delta, of which fishing is a major contributor to the earnings of residents.
A resident of Bonny Island, Mma Ala said that the occupation was no longer as promising as before noting that oil spillage and other environmental issues had driven away the fishes. “Sometimes, we toil for hours before we are able to get something small,” she was quoted as saying.
“It was not like this before. The oil and gas people have spoilt our river for us. We cannot even make a living at all. We don’t work in the oil companies; the little one we are managing, they are spoiling it for us.
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“Before now, if you get to the middle of the water, you can use it to ‘drink’ garri because of how clean it was. But now, with the level of waste and pollution, if anyone tries that, one is inviting problems to one’s self,” she complained.
A former fisherwoman, Mrs Eremina Pete, reportedly stated that she abandoned fishing in 2015 due to reduced catches after 20 years spent fishing and added that fishing for women was tasking and required more than physical energy. “I spent almost ten years fishing in Bonny Island. In the early 1990s, I went fishing with my mother and sisters in Kalabari Town, Rivers State, before I got married. There were more women in the river at that time. The situation has changed. The males are also vacating the waterways.”
According to her, the activities of illegal refineries and oil spillage forced her out of the profession into catering even though fishing was then lucrative. “However, since the activities of gas flares and other gas bunkers increased, we have not felt tranquility. They have harmed us by contaminating our waters. That’s why I stopped fishing along with a lot of other women.”
Mr Michael Simire, an environmentalist, speaking on pollution, explained that pollutants like crude oil and gas could affect marine life. He noted that oil pollution especially was one of the major ones in the Niger Delta region.
Simire said, “When there is an oil spill or leak, the oil gets into the bodies of water. Marine life will eventually absorb this oil into its system. Therefore, it also has an impact on their ability to breathe and function. Over time, some of them disappear, and those that remain have problems reproducing. One of the main issues is that even after being cooked, the majority of the poisons from the contaminants do not just disappear. These fish are consumed by humans, which has a harmful effect on their lives.”
