A Professor of Hydrobioloy and Fisheries, Kayode Bodunrin Olurin, has advised the state and federal governments to leverage on the nation’s 960km coaster line to rejig the economy by encouraging more Nigerians to go into fish farming.
Olurin revealed that artisan-based marine fisheries provide jobs for over 400,000 people, particularly in the Niger Delta region of the country, while the Eriwe Fish farm in Ijebu, Ogun State, has over 6,000 registered farmers, produces 2,500 metric tonnes of catfish annually and also generates over N1bn every year.
The expert who disclosed this while delivering the 86th inaugural lecture of the Olabisi Onabanjo University (OOU), Ago-Iwoye, at the weekend, added that the nation’s fish production could be greatly enhanced and doubled to boost the economy, create more jobs for the youths and meet the protein needs of Nigerians.
He noted that the total fisheries production in the country as at 2015 was estimated at 1,027,000 metric tonnes with marine catches constituting 36% of it, inland catches 33% and aquaculture 36%.
According to him, Nigeria expended $1.2billion US dollars in 2013 on fish importation and exported fish worth $284,390million within the same period, citing Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO,2018) as his source.
Olurin in his lecture titled: Dwindling Fish Production: Fisheries Research To The Rescue, suggested devoting a substantial portion of government’s annual budget to fisheries research, granting of credit facilities to youths and initiating private sector fish farm estates as ways to arrest the dwindling fish production in Nigeria.
He identified toxicity of marine waters through chemical and industrial pollutants and feeding of fishes with meals from grains preserved with chemicals as factors hurting ecosystem of fisheries resulting in death and poor or low production.
