Following the devastating flood that ravaged Borno State’s capital Maiduguri, Jere and Konduga local government areas in September, residents of the city has puts the flood behind and embrace fishing activities as a means of livelihood.
The residents, while nursing their wounds and losses during the flood, are turning the leaves around, utilizing the disadvantage that comes with the flood incident to an advantage.
The flood has displaced over a million people and destroyed thousands of houses, businesses and other important public and private facilities in the state.
At Fori bridge, one of destroyed infrastructure, many fishermen and women were seen fishing at the river.
The Fori River is the source of water that flooded Maiduguri and it’s environs.Now inaccessible for vehicles due to destruction by flood, people living in communities around Fori Bridge still navigates through the ruins to cross to the other side of the bridge.
In an interview with 9News Nigeria, some of the fishermen said they started fishing as a means of livelihood just after the flood.
This they said is due to the unusual high flow of fishes in the river.
They said that although fishing activities is an annual event at the river, this year’s is exceptional because of the high productivity.
“The influx of fish in the river this year is unbelievable, we have never seen anything like that, and it motivated us to join fishing,” Mahmud Ibrahim, formerly a carpenter said.
Others however noted that they have been fishing in the area for several years.
Ali Musa, one of the fishermen said he has been fishing for about 15 years now at the river.
Musa also confirmed Ibrahim’s claim, noting that he has never experienced high catch than he does this year.
He said that this year’s catch has tripled previous years’ in quantity
“The scale of fish flow in the river this year is unusual, it is like the fishes are just waiting for you to throw the net on them.
“If you can catch one basket in the past, you can get two or three this year with the same effort,” Musa, aged 32 explained.
Some of the fishermen attributed the high scale of fishes this year to the flooding incident while other believes it is just a blessing from God.
They also said that there are many fish species in the river, but noted that the most popular are Cat fish and Tilapia.
“There are more cat fish and Tilapia in the river than other species,” Modu Ali, another fisherman said.
This reporter has observed that the two sides of the bridge is flooded with people throughout the day since the flood incident.
While some are passerbys, others are there to buy fish and other businesses activities.
Salisu Shehu, a fish trader said that he moved his business to the river side due to high scale of product in the area.
“I used to trade at Custom Area but I earlier learned that there is high productivity and big market here and I moved here,” Shehu said.
He noted that there are still fishing activities in his former location but the productivity is lesser than the Fori River.
Like Shehu, other fish traders at Fori Bridge said the high scale of fish this year has affected the product’s prices in the market.
According to Mansur Isa, another fish trader, the price has reduced to about 100% compared to the period before the flood.
“What we sell at N1,000 is now sold at N500 or N600 now,” Isa said.
