Fishers decry declining catches, polluted waters, disappearing mangroves in Cross River

Fishers in Esuk Atu, a coastal community in Calabar, Cross River State, have raised concerns over declining fish catches, increasing pollution, disappearing mangroves and flooding, saying these changes are making fishing increasingly difficult and expensive.

The fishers spoke on Friday during a community rights defenders training organised by Peace Point Development Foundation (PPDF), in partnership with the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF), at Esuk Atu.

The training is part of PPDF’s second phase of its “Building Community Rights Defenders in the Niger Delta” project, which uses the Nigeria Socio-Ecological Alternatives Convergence (NSAC) and Niger Delta Alternatives Convergence (NDAC) frameworks to equip fishers, youths and community leaders with knowledge and tools for environmental monitoring, documentation and advocacy.

The first phase of the project was implemented last year in Essierebom, Calabar South, Cross River State, and Opolom in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

The second phase is being extended to Esuk Atu in Calabar and Esuk Itu in Itu Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom State.

At the Esuk Atu training, fishers identified several changes affecting their livelihoods, including reduced fish catches, smaller fish, pollution from oil discharged by vessels and mining activities, plastic waste, destruction of mangroves, flooding and erosion.

They also complained about changing weather patterns, insecurity and attacks by robbers, and damage to fishing equipment by vessels navigating smaller waterways.

A PREMIUM TIMES investigative series previously reported how Nigerian small-scale fishers and women traders face twin threat of sea robbery and climate change while the government had no clear plan to help.

‘We no longer see adequate fish’

Mmayen Archibong, a fish seller in the community, said the decline in fishing was not receiving sufficient attention because consumers were more focused on rising fish prices than on what was causing the decline in supply.

“People are not giving attention to the fact that fishing is declining because what the fishers bring out from the water is no longer much as before,” she said.

“People are only complaining that fish is expensive but are not asking why it is expensive. We no longer see adequate fish to buy.

“As we continue to keep quiet and act as if everything is okay, one day it will get to an alarming point.”

A fisher, Effiong Otu, identified the destruction of mangroves for firewood and mining grounds as one of the major threats to fishing in the area.

Mr Otu said mangroves serve as breeding grounds for fish but were disappearing rapidly, with some areas being taken over by nipa palms.

He said although Cross River waters might not experience the scale of oil pollution associated with some parts of the Niger Delta, increasing mining activities were making the water dirtier.

He also complained about the growing presence of plastics in the water.

“These days, you stay longer in the water before you can catch fish,” Mr Otu said.

“This is because our water is becoming too polluted, making fish migrate to cleaner water. And to get to such waters, you burn more fuel. That is why fish is becoming more expensive.”

Scientific studies have also documented environmental pressures around Esuk Atu and the Great Kwa River. A study of aquatic organisms in the area attributed low abundance and distribution of zooplankton partly to pollution and human activities, including domestic waste, wastewater, industrial effluents, sand mining, hydrocarbons and other toxic substances.

Another recent study of sediments in the lower Calabar and Great Kwa rivers identified the mangrove creek system as spawning habitat for fish and other aquatic species and examined the potential ecological risks associated with toxic metals in the river sediments.

Turning fishers into environmental monitors

In his presentation on NSAC and NDAC, Peace Point Development Foundation Coordinator, Umo Isuaikoh, explained that the frameworks seek to promote development that does not destroy people, land or water.

He said the NSAC principles include ecological limits, protection of communal resources such as rivers, creeks and mangroves, community participation in decisions concerning extractive projects and a just transition away from dependence on oil.

For fishers, he said, this should mean their participation in decisions concerning pollution and environmental remediation.

Mr Isuaikoh said communities should be consulted when environmental damage is investigated and cleaned up, and compensation for that damage should restore livelihoods rather than merely provide financial settlements.

He also stressed the need for environmental damage to be prevented rather than simply monetised.

The NDAC framework, he said, promotes a shift from oil and mining-driven development towards life-centred development, emphasising environmental restoration, community control of resources and economic alternatives.

For fishing communities, this includes restoring polluted rivers and mangroves, enforcing the polluter-pays principle and ensuring that communities have a voice in decisions affecting their resources.

“The Niger Delta cannot feed Nigeria if its waters are poisoned,” Mr Isuaikoh said in his presentation.

The NSAC emerged from national conversations on Nigeria’s interconnected ecological challenges and culminated in the adoption of the Nigeria Socio-Ecological Alternatives Charter, which identifies ecological justice, people’s participation, sustainability, accountability, solidarity and partnership as core principles.

‘Organised fishers are a force’

An environmentalist, Idongesit Essien, who facilitated sessions on grassroots organising and environmental justice, told the participants that individual fishers would have limited capacity to influence environmental decisions but could build collective strength through organisation.

He identified fragmented communities, fear of speaking out, political co-option and the exclusion of women as some of the obstacles to effective community advocacy.

He encouraged participants to strengthen networks such as the FishNet Alliance, Women’s Eco Defenders and Youth Ambassadors.

Under the proposed FishNet Alliance, fishers can share information about pollution and abuses, document incidents collectively, bargain for fair compensation and establish early-warning systems.

He said women should play a central role in environmental advocacy because they often bear the consequences of pollution through reduced income from fish processing, health risks associated with traditional fish-smoking methods and exclusion from compensation processes.

He also charged young people to participate in environmental monitoring, data collection and digital storytelling using photographs, videos and location information.

The training introduced participants to community mapping, documenting pollution and environmental incidents with mobile phones, recording testimonies in local languages, maintaining fisher logbooks and engaging officials through town hall meetings.

“What is documented is harder to deny,” Mr Essien said.

In another presentation on communication, storytelling and sustainable alternatives, Mr Essien called on the fishers to use their own experiences to communicate the environmental changes affecting their communities.

He also encouraged the fishers to use petitions, media engagement, and strategic litigation, engagement with state assemblies and alliances with farmers, traders and health workers to pursue their demands.

Mr Essien also asked the fishers to use local radio, community meetings, social media, WhatsApp and other platforms in telling their stories.

Government pledges collaboration

The Cross River State Commissioner for Environment, Bassey Mensah, represented by ministry official MaryDoris Opue, commended the Peace Point Development Foundation and HOMEF for selecting Esuk Atu for the programme.

Mr Mensah described the community as part of Cross River’s coastal ecological heritage and said environmental degradation, climate change and livelihood pressures were affecting coastal communities.

He said Cross River’s coastal communities in Calabar South, Bakassi and Akpabuyo were experiencing the effects of climate change.

The commissioner said the state government considered environmental justice and community stewardship important to its environmental agenda.

He described the Community Rights Defenders project as an empowerment initiative that would help participants understand their environmental rights and the laws protecting them, as well as a mechanism for giving women, fishers, farmers and youths a stronger voice in environmental matters.

Mr Mensah pledged that the ministry would collaborate with the initiative and said it was willing to integrate community rights defenders into community-based environmental monitoring.

He also promised stronger collaboration in reporting environmental violations, mangrove destruction and illegal activities and said community demands and communiqués would be taken to the State Executive Council.