SEA piracy, currently crippling legitimate socio-economic ventures in the Horn of Africa, may have berthed in Nigeria's coastal region on a pronounced note, with the nation's fishing industry, estimated to worth over N50 billion, emerging the immediate victim.The fishing industry, currently groaning under the pangs of high operating costs, accentuated by rising prices of diesel in the country, may be preparing its nunc dimitsOnly recently, two crew members of a fishing boats were said to have been killed and 40 others injured as pirates raided 16 vessels off Calabar and Bonny Rivers. During the raid, seafoods, electronic equipment and other devices on board were carted away by the hoodlums.President of Nigerian Trawlers Owners Association (NITOA), Joseph Overo, has dispatched a memorandum to the Federal Government on the unsavoury trend, assessed to be fatally assailing the sub-sector.He said yesterday that the increase in the attacks was making it difficultfor the vessels to go fishing.According to him, the sector would face imminent collapse if the trend was not curtailed, saying that fishing companies now have varied sad experiences of the brutal manner the hoodlums implore to carry out the attacks.Oyero noted that the sea pirates usually hijack the fishing vessels, take them to the high sea and neighbouring countries to attack oil tankers.In addition, on completion of the pirate operations on board the oil tankers, they would also rob the fishing vessel crew of valuable items and forced their vessels to return them to Nigeria's territorial waters.According to him, the pirates usually cart away fish products, electronic and communication equipment, among others on board the fishing vessels.He said that a good number of the attacks were carried out between Escarvos and Bonny areas of the coastal waters.He pointed out that the development has resulted to the nose-driving of productivity of NITOA members.He urged the Federal Government to intervene through proper monitory of the nation's waters to enable the industry to thrive.On high cost of operation, Overo said that 85 per cent of the sub-sector's operations depend solely on diesel, adding that the operators were incurring huge overhead costs.'This is so because it is only in the fishing industry that diesel alone accounts for 85 per cent of the production cost,' he said.According to him, each vessel consumes an average of 60 tonnes of diesel daily and that is N10 million per 45-day fishing trip.He suggested that the Federal Government should approve direct allocation of diesel from the major marketers to the operators.'We are appealing to government to also subsidise diesel. If the farmers enjoy fertiliser subsidy, then the fishing sector should have an incentive to enable the sector to thrive.'The supply of this product to the industrial fishing operators requires government's intervention and support, if all the fishing companies would not fold up.'Though, Nigeria 's fish products are among the best in the world, the price of our exported products has remained static in the international market.'This is because we are unable to dictate price due to the cheap production cost occasioned by grants, aids and subsidies obtained by our competitors from their various governments, which put them at an advantage,' he said.
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