A big whale has been washed ashore the Bonny Island, Bonny Local Government Area, Rivers State, amidst suspicions of massive aquatic pollution in the Niger Delta region.
It was gathered the whale, whose tail and other parts of its body, were already decaying, was discovered by residents of Finima.
The dead whale was found at the shore at a time oil and gas sector regulators said they had launched an investigation into the cause of death of thousands of croaker fish known as broke marriage in rivers across Ijaw communities.
A delegation of youths led by the interim President of the Ijaw Youths Council (IYC), Worldwide, Kennedy Olorogun, recently toured the affected areas and were shocked by the rate of death.
It was gathered at the weekend that the sudden appearance of the whale jolted the Finima community where most of the dead croaker fish were found ashore.
While there was rush to begin harvesting the whale for food, it was learnt that the community leaders, who got hint of the development, stopped feasting on the aquatic animal.
An aspiring spokesman of IYC and blogger, Bodmas Kemepadei, lamented that people were already harvesting the animal without considering its health implication.
He warned the people of Finima against eating any part of the dead whale adding that it could have died from the same pollutant that killed the croaker fish.
But the National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) said that it found no oil leaks linked to the massive death of fishes along the Atlantic coastline across region.
The agency said it was coordinating a muli-agency investigation to uncover the cause of the reported massive death of fishes within the nation’s territorial waters and was looking beyond the oil industry..
Director-General of NOSDRA, Mr Idris Musa, said in a statement said that investigation was already ongoing despite the COVID-19 lockdown.
Musa explained that officials of NOSDRA deployed from the agency’s office in Warri, Yenagoa and Port Harcourt conducted site visits to the Atlantic coastline in Delta, Bayelsa and Rivers to collect water and fish samples tor tests.
He said: “The National Oil Spills Detection and Response Agency (NOSDRA) carried out a reconnaissance of the area in Delta where we first got the report through a member through a member of a Non Governmental Organisation.
“There was no incident of oil spill within the area of reported dead fishes, notwithstanding that a few dead fishes were seen along the shoreline.
“The event of recent days where the death of fishes in large numbers make it expedient to look beyond oil spillage as the likely cause death of fishes in such large numbers.
“The Agency proceeded to collect samples of water, sediments and some of the dead fish for laboratory testing. In doing so the agency brought onboard other relevant agencies of government that have mandate on our territorial waters.
“In particularly the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Nigerian Instutue of Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR),Federal Institute of Fisheries Reaserch.
“Also included is the National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) for an all hands on deck assessment of the possible cause or causes of death of the fishes in such large numbers,” Musa said.
He said that the results of ongoing laboratory analysis would be compared with results from the participating agencies to profer an effective solution and ensure a more stringent regulations in future.