Fishers in Cross River decry shrinking catches, polluted waters and disappearing mangroves as Peace Point Development Foundation and Health of Mother Earth Foundation train community members to document environmental threats, defend their rights and demand accountability.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
