STAKEHOLDERS in the Niger Delta have called on the regulatory agencies to expedite investigations into the dead fishes littering the Atlantic Ocean coastline.
The stakeholders made the call in a report titled “Massive Death of Fishes across the Atlantic Coastline of the Niger” and obtained by the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
Mr Musa Idris, Director-General, National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA), had earlier said the agency was coordinating a multi-agency investigation into the cause of massive death of fishes in the area.
NAN reports that the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and several others are among regulators participating in the study.
Others are Nigerian Institute of Oceanography and Marine Research, and the National Environmental Standards and Regulatory Enforcement Agency (NESREA).
The stakeholders, consisting of members of the community, environmentalists and members of the FishNet Alliance, want the regulators to identify the cause of death of the fishes.
They are also asking that the perpetrators be brought to book if the cause of death is not natural.
According to the report, the news of dead fishes washing ashore first broke on Feb. 20, when people of Ogbuagha community in Delta reported massive dead fishes floating and littering their shores.
“This incident has replicated itself in other fishing communities along the Atlantic coastline in the Niger Delta states of Ondo, Bayelsa, Rivers and Akwa Ibom.”
It also indicated that some residents are picking up the dead fishes and taking them home to process and sell to unsuspecting members of the public.
In the report, the Director of Health of Mother Earth Foundation, Nnimmo Bassey, disclosed that issue was a clear indication that there was a serious threat to public health.
“The dead fishes are smoking guns pointing at a serious crime. The coronavirus pandemic should not deter the relevant institutions from getting to the root of the matter.
“This matter should not be swept under the carpet because we are focusing attention on the pandemic,” Bassey said.
They urged other stakeholders, especially environment and health NGOs, to put pressure on the authorities to see this as a major disaster.
They called for sensitisation to raise the awareness of people, especially in such communities experiencing this phenomenon, to ensure that the dead fishes are not consumed or sold.
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