Abstract

Akwa Ibom State is one of the six states in the South-South geo-political zone of Nigeria; the region that lays the “golden egg” (The oil and gas). Unfortunately since this region started laying the so-called egg, neither the ground upon which the egg is laid nor other endowments of the region has rested. Oil spills, gas flaring and its accompanying climate change have impacted negatively on the environment and the other resources (fish inclusive) of the region. This paper therefore intends to review the ichthyofauna of the inland waters of Akwa Ibom State, with a view to assessing the status of the fisheries. Existing literatures on the ichthyofauna of some of these waters have been reviewed, while we also took a step further to survey two important landing sites (Oku Iboku landing and Ifiaoyong landing sites) in the State. In the two sites visited, Chrysichthys sp was the dominant species. On a general note, Akwa Ibom Inland fishery is very economically viable; providing good quality protein for the populace through fish supplies as well as providing source of livelihood to several others through the value chain of the fisheries. Beyond inspecting the fish faunal composition of the landing sites, we also interacted with the fishers’ folk to understand the sources of conflicts. Violation of contractual agreement and non-adherence to time slot allotted to fishers; depending on fishing gear in use (low tide and high tide each has a different fishing gear) were pointed out as the sources of conflict. Looking at the fisheries on the periphery, they seem in-exhaustible, but deep down, the fisheries are gradually becoming overfished, proper management strategies should therefore be taken to avoid the “tragedy of the commons”. 

Keywords

Icthyofauna, fisheries, management, environmental