shrimp farming threatens local fishing
rights in the niger delta
friends of the earth nigeria
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The future of more than 8 million
people in the Niger Delta whose
livelihoods depend upon fishing and
the surrounding ecosystem hangs in
the balance due to threats posed by
industrialized fishing and shrimp
farming.
These people live in coastal
communities and fishing settlements
in the fragile saline mangrove swamps
of the Niger Delta, the breeding
ground for more than 60 percent of
the fish caught along the west coast
of Africa.
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Coastal communities are concerned about
the progressive decline of their fish catch
due to the pollution of their fishing
grounds by oil companies like Shell, as
well as unsustainable fishing practices by
illegal trawlers. These trawlers ignore
local and national laws, catching fish
regardless of size, and destroying the
fishing nets and traps of local people.
Fisherfolk also dread the proposed
collaboration between Shell and the UN
Development Program for industrialized
shrimp farming in the Niger Delta. Although
the project sponsors claim poverty
alleviation for fishing communities as a
main goal, local people have not been
consulted in this blatantly top-down
development scheme. The ulterior motive for
the scheme is clear, with worldwide demand
for tropical shrimps increasing
dramatically in recent years.
Fisherfolk worry with good reason that
the shrimp farms will pollute their fishing
grounds and simultaneously destroy the
mangrove forests, their source of wood for
building boats and paddles, fish traps,
fences and carvings.
Horror stories about shrimp farming in
Asian countries including Thailand ,
Indonesia , India and Taiwan heighten
people's fears. In these countries, shrimp
farms have been accompanied by
displacement, loss of traditional fishing
rights, environmental degradation, land
conflicts, migration to overcrowded cities,
pollution by harmful antibiotics and
chemicals, and gross inequalities between
those who profit and those who lose. The
promised local employment at the shrimp
farms is generally less viable than
people's original fishing-based
livelihoods, catalyzing a downward spiral
of poverty and environmental
degradation.
Friends of the Earth Nigeria is
increasing the heat on oil companies to
accept liability for the messes they have
made in the Niger Delta. This will allow
fish, crabs, shrimp, crustaceans and other
sea food to flourish again. At the same
time, they are encouraging the development
of small-scale fisheries and artisanal
shrimp farming in order to relieve poverty
and stress on the environment. They are
also working with partners in the North,
including Friends of the Earth Netherlands,
to inform the public about the social,
economic and ecological impacts of shrimp
imports.
