Access Mambo’s exclusive content on Patreon. Expect much more this coming March and after – original content you can be proud of, from #Africa, to the #Americas, from the #Caribbean to #Europe & beyond – MAMBO is “restructuring mindsets, changing narratives” – link to the video đź“ą below.
Lede:
- A look at a fisherman’s livelihood, one of humans’ oldest trade
- What does the future portend ? What environmental policies need to be addressed to save this trade?
https://www.patreon.com/posts/150766751?utm_campaign=postshare_fan&utm_content=android_share
Fisherman John Alade has continued this trade from his father and forefathers. It runs in the family. For 50 years, he has called the banks of river Benue home, which stretches 895 miles long from it’s source in the Adamawa highlands to its confluence with the river Niger in Lokoja.
Like Mr. Alade, millions of people depend on its resources. Middlemen or middlewomen, for that matter, get the newly caught fresh catch to sell in the market. They settle their bill with the fisherman after they trade.
The peaceful life of living with nature in harmony is being threatened by population explosion. Settlements have sprang up around the water catchment areas. The use of chemicals by unscrupulous fishermen not only kills fishes but also destroys their eggs. The spiraling down is also exacerbated by the use of fine nets that scoop up everything, upsetting the ecosystem.
Flooding is another phenomenon that seems to be happening more frequently than in the past. Is the Nigerian government looking into enacting policies that not only stop but reverse the degradation of this river that so many depend on?
#benueriver​ #climate​ #fisherman​ #fishing​ #fishmonger​ #floods​ #hausa​ #nigeria​ #traders​
