The collision of paddle and sand in the middle of the rainy season and the receding water stain on wooden stilts attests to the impact of irregular rainfall, changing water levels and warmer temperatures indicators of climate change in Makoko, a floating village on the Lagos Lagoon inhabited by a fishing tribe of more than 100,000 people.
Artisanal fishermen whose ancestors exploited the waters for more than a century say naturally occurring fish species such as the lesser African threadfin, the Senegal jack, the West African Ladyfish and Edible Mussels which were sold for higher prices in the market are started to disappear putting a strain on their, at that time, the sole source of livelihoods.
The catch used to be enormous in the past, we use to catch all the different types of fishes then we stopped seeing Titus fish (Mackerel), Sharks that wander from the ocean seasonally, Silver Catfish and others, said Segun Azankpo, a well-known fisherman in the area.
His meager catches are now supplemented by money he makes from lending his canoe to tourists.
Thirteen years ago, in 2007, a study by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations [the latest study available]discovered that apart from climate change, overfishing by industrial fleets in Nigerian coastal areas such as Lagos was leading to a decline in quantity and quality of catch while also causing environmental degradation seriously impeding the productivity of the artisanal sector and declining efficiency due to lack of technical innovation.
In order to keep exploiting the waters despite the challenges, some fishermen have turned to revenue from tourism in their community. This revenue then allows them to finance the introduction of non-native species such as Bayard, African Arowana, and Grunts which is starting to dominate the Lagoon.
Fascinated by the allure of murky intricate waterways woven in-between makeshift wooden stilts, foreign and local tourists who are seeking new adventures,YouTubers and celebrities looking to creating unexplored content for their audience are trooping into Makoko in droves thereby providing revenue which local fishermen in turn use to grow their fish farms.
John Awume, a middle-aged man who used to fish but now paddles tourists around as a tour guide, said he decided to take a break from fishing to save money to create his own fish farm with new species that yield faster and are not within the reach of trawling boats used for industrial-scale fishing.
I used to fish actively in the past but the yields became low and my boat developed technical problems so I became broke, my specialty used to be big fishes. When tourists come, they pay, even though it is not a lot but I am saving it to start my own fish farm because it is working for others around me, he said.
The introduction of new and exotic fish species in waters where there is obvious native decline is controversial because of concerns around conservation of ecosystems.
In Lake Victoria which is divided among three countries Kenya (6%), Uganda (45%) and Tanzania (49%), the predatory Nile perch, Lates niloticus, and the herbivorous tilapiines, Oreochromis niloticus, Oreochromis leucostictus, Tilapia zillii and Tilapia rendalii, was introduced in Lake Victoria in the 1960s due to a decline in native species. While the lake flourished and fishermen thrived through the economic opportunities it created, the lake underwent ecological changes which lead to the disappearance of native species such as the endemic Cichlids and the native tilapia species Ngege (Oreochromis niloticus).
SIPA