Fishermen Raise Alarm Over Contaminated Fish In Akwa Ibom

           

The Secretary of the Akwa Ibom State Chapter of the Artisan Fishermen of Nigeria (ARFAN), Mr Inyang Ekong, has raised an alarm over the high rate of contaminated fishes in the state due to a recent oil spill from a facility belonging to a multinational oil firm. According to him, there is a lot of contaminated fish in the sea now, as a result of the oil spill and that, fishes caught on the Akwa Ibom coast line since then had remained unhygienic and unfit for human consumption.


Inyang  made the remark in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN), in Ibeno Local Government Area of Akwa Ibom.
NAN recalls that the oil spill from the facility occurred at the Mkpanak community and its neighboring local government on April 19.
  “If fishermen on the coast line now catch fish in the area, it will be contaminated fish because it is difficult to catch fish whenever there is an oil spill in an area.
“If you catch and bring it home, you cannot even use it for personal consumption, very much less for commercial purposes.
“Once there is an oil spill, it damages the fish in the water; usually, the water no longer sustains life and even water in the creeks will be affected by the oil spill,’’ he said.
 “Once fish feel the odour of an oil spill, they will all run away with their fingerlings, sea birds, snails and crabs to the neighbouring countries,’’ Ekong said.

He said that fishermen were the most directly affected during every oil spill in the state.
Ekong said that the effect of oil spills had made fishermen to be jobless, while lamenting that fishing activities were now at its lowest ebb in the area.
“If they do a clean-up, it takes more than 13 weeks but if there is no clean up, it will last for six months before the water regains itself.
“A particular oil spill had a lot of effects on the lives of fishermen, so when a spill comes like this, fishermen hold their breath because they don’t know what to do,’’ he said.

Ekong, however, called on the Federal Government, Stakeholders and public-spirited individuals to come to their aid.
NAN reports that the multinational company involved had yet to clean up the spill at Ibeno and its neighbourhood since it occurred.
Responding to the development, the Manager, Media and Communication, ExxonMobil, Ogechukwu Udeagha, said that the company had observed some intermittent patches of an oil-based substance along the shoreline of the Ibeno beach.
He restated ExxonMobil’s continued commitment to maintaining safety, health and environmental standards in their operations, as well as the well-being of its neighbouring communities.

**Thank you  ExxonMobil for following the HSE standards, the company involved should please emulate Mobil and go clean up that oil spill mess...April 19th is long enough time.Don't be lackadaisical,  think health..think cancer...go for safety!