Fishermen, under the aegis of Famous Fishing Organisation (FFO), on Sunday said the recent bonga oil spill had negatively affected economy of coastal settlements in Akwa Ibom.

Legal adviser of the organisation, Mr Umoekeyo Eno, told newsmen in Oron, that the fishermen would be compelled to seek legal redress if the oil firm responsible for the spill failed to compensate the victims.

He said that he had written to Shell Nigeria Exploration and Production Company (SNEPCO) on the impact of the spill on members of the organisation in Akwa Ibom.

Eno said that there was evidence to prove that fishermen in Oron, Mbo, Urue Offong Oruko, Udung Uko, Ibeno, Ikot Abasi and Eastern Obolo in Akwa Ibom, were affected by the spill.

He dismissed reports that the spill had not reached Akwa Ibom shorelines.

Eno described the reports as “unscientific” and argued that only a scientific study of the Akwa Ibom coastline would exonerate the oil firm.

“The statement is unscientific, when you put something in the water which is injurious to the interest of fishermen, the thing goes on and off, it doesn’t go one way, water doesn’t flow one way.

“So, if you put injurious substance in the water in that area, it must naturally pass to other areas, nobody is directing the movement of the spill one way, it is not a one-way traffic.

“Of course, what is on ground is that this area, this Oron area, Ibeno has been affected, adversely affected by the spill; for somebody to make that statement, it is unscientific and false.

“Anything that happens in Port Harcourt passes along the Atlantic coast to other communities in the Delta region where we are.”

He urged the Akwa Ibom Ministry of Environment to immediately conduct an environmental audit of the Atlantic shoreline in the state to ascertain the level of damage to coastal settlements.

Our correspondent recalls that SNEPCO, operator of the Bonga Field located about 120 kilometres from the coastline, reported that some 40,000 barrels of crude leaked into the Atlantic Ocean in the spill incident which occurred on December  20, 2011.

A statement from SNEPCO said the oil firm had completed the clean up of the spill which occurred 120 kilometres off the coastline and restarted production from the Bonga platform in January.