LAGOS – Prof. Emmanuel Faturoti, a professor of Fisheries Management and Aquaculture, on Thursday identified overfishing, trawling and dredging as problems affecting the nation’s ocean.
Faturoti said this at an event organised by the International Ocean Institute and Western Africa Operational Centre in collaboration with Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research to commemorate the 2014 World Ocean Day.
In a paper presentation titled “Together We Can Protect the Ocean’’, Faturoti noted that over-fishing had reduced the fish stock and caused a destruction of crucial habitat essential for the regeneration of fish stocks.
He said that the marine mammals too were seriously affected, thereby reducing the species in the ocean.
According to him, the ocean is vital and critical for life as it is a source of livelihood for people around the coastal area.
“We must make everyone feel the connection of a living being with the ocean and we must try to honour the ocean and the oceanic products for sustainability.
“There should be a reform in ocean fisheries in a way to ensure they deliver equitable benefits,’’ he said.
Faturoti also noted that climate change also affect the ocean fish stocks which were forced to move to waters with more tolerable temperatures.
“Water temperatures influence the behaviour of the ecosystem, causing an increase in metabolism and predation or hibernation of fish,.”
The professor called for the enforcement of regulations or rules that governed fisheries activities to ensure the continued productivity of the resources and the accomplishment of the other objectives. (NAN)
