Nick Ashton-Jones, with Oronto Douglas and Susi Arnott

“ Fresh-water fishing appears to be of less economic importance than fishing in the Saltwater ecozones. The catch is lower and both fishermen and women complain of declining catches. Many women say they catch only for the pot and that there is nothing left over for sale. This is borne out by investigations of local markets. Nonetheless the extensive floated lines and nets seen in the wider rivers suggest that despite turbidity and increasing pollution, fishing is a worthwhile economic activity. Moreover fish trapping in swamps, streams and lakes is a common practice. ”

“ Light, which decreases with depth and turbidity, and which influences oxygen levels from photosynthesis and the ability of fish to search for food. Fish are so sensitive to their environment in terms of these factors that any decline in overall fish populations, in the weight of individual fish and/or in fish biodiversity, for a given ecosystem, suggests that something is going wrong. In this respect the health and the trends in the health of fish populations provide an indication of the health of aquatic ecosystems, just as birds make good indicators for terrestrial ecosystems. ”

“ Human Population Density in the Niger Delta
The issue of land and human population density is important in relation to the development pressure that is put on the Niger Delta. At a glance the area seems to have a low population density compared with other parts of Southern Nigeria. However, close investigation shows that the amount of dry land upon which people can actually settle and farm is limited so that effectively the Niger Delta has the same population densities and pressures as the rest of Southern Nigeria. ”

“ Because of the high level of nutrients in the water, mangrove environments are ideal for farming fish in cages, enclosures and ponds. Nonetheless large areas of mangroves have been destroyed in Southeast Asia for Prawn and Shell fish farms, and similar activity in the Niger Delta would be counter productive in relation to deep-sea, inshore and estuarine fishing. However the nutrient rich environment can be used to increase the national fish yield by raising of fingerlings in ponds to be released into the creeks ”

“ The tidal areas of the Brackish and Fresh-water ecozones are particularly susceptible to pollution in the dry season when the rivers are slow moving, so that pollutants are inefficiently flushed out as incoming tides tend to push them back upstream. ”

“ The major fish species found in the Niger Delta and other Southern Nigerian fresh waters are well known to researchers, and there is a general opinion that they are underutilised. The potential for small-scale fish farming is high but river fishing is likely to beincreasingly limited by pollution and, in the white water rivers, by turbidity. ”

“ When the black fly takes its next meal it ingests the microfilariae which develop into adults in the stomach wall, migrate to the head and proboscis (the feeding organ of the fly) ready to re-infect the human again. River Blindness is debilitating disease because after numerous infections, not only do the accumulated nodules cause ugly skin disorders and breakdown of the lymph glands but also insensitivity to light, loss of vision and eventually blindness. ”

“ The males die but the females migrate to various parts of the body, most often the legs, and after about a year emerge in a painful blister. On contact with water the female releases eggs that thrive in still, shallow waters, but that die within three days if they do not find a water cyclops. ”

“ Moreover, the Nigerian fishing industry provides a great deal of employment and economic opportunity because it is labour intensive and dominated by the small fishermen who were still taking up to 90% of the national marine catch in the late 1980s. ”

“ Also, throughout the mangrove forests, tiny settlements perch on Chicoco soil platforms dug out of the swamps, and reinforced with periwinkle and palm kernel shells. Similar reclamation occurs in the unofficial waterside settlement of the larger cities such as at Nembe Waterside in Port Harcourt where houses have to be raised up, and footpaths built on causeways, in order to remain dry during the long wet season. Such large settlements on Chicoco soil are not healthy because the water which dominates them is little better than sewage. ”

“ The larvae penetrate a surface vein and work their way through the blood system, into the heart, lungs, liver and abdomen, and thence back into the blood stream where they become adults, which lay eggs that are expelled from the body in blood from the damaged bladder and rectal veins. ”