By Brave Dickson
Some fishermen, especially those from the Ahoada West Local Government Area of Rivers State have gradually avoided night fishing following increasing attacks on them by armed bandits.
The fishermen said armed bandits are now laying ambush on them, adding that their lives are no longer safe during night fishing.
The representative of the fishermen in the LGA, Ogbapu Goodname who revealed this to our correspondent equally appealed to relevant authorities to come to their rescue.
He said: “In the past, we can fish at far distance away from our community at night but that cannot be done now because of some bandits camping in those places.
Goodname also accused the bandits of committing various heinous crimes against them, saying that, “the bandits have been kidnapping fishermen, stealing our fishes and killing fishermen. We really want the government to come to our rescue.”
He further complained on how they usually fall sick during raining season while fishing and attributed the situation to lack of protective wears that could have stopped cold from penetrating into them.
According to him, “most of us become sick during raining season due to lack of protective equipment from rain and sun.”
Adding that, “speed boat engines do destroy our fishing net because we don’t have adequate torch light for fishing at night.”
