Restaurateurs and sea food dealers in coastal communities in Akwa Ibom say the recent oil spillage in the area has affected the consumption of fresh fish by the people.

They attributed the development to fear among the people over the possibility of buying fish poisoned by spilled crude.

The Tide’s source reports that the fear among the people arose from the May 1 oil spillage from the Qua Iboe Oil Fields, which polluted water in the communities.

Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN), a subsidiary of U.S. Oil firm, ExxonMobil, had, in a statement signed by its Executive Director, Mrs Gloria Essien-Danner, confirmed that oil was leaking from the company’s pipeline.

The leakage discharged crude into the Atlantic Ocean and polluted the water and coastal settlements in the predominantly fishing communities in Akwa Ibom and neighbouring Cross River.

A source in Eket, Ibeno and Onna local government Areas, situated along the Atlantic shoreline, revealed that the people had shunned fresh fish since the spill was reported.

Obong Nathaniel Oduneyie, the Clan Head of Eket Afaha in Eket local government area, said oil spills were detrimental to fishing and public health.

“I love fresh fish a lot but I discovered that the ones bought and prepared for me recently tasted awful, apparently contaminated by the spill,” he said.

Mrs Elsie Akpan, a restaurateur in Esit Eket, told the source that her customers now preferred meat to fish because of the fear of eating contaminated fish.

According to her, I used to have many customers for fresh fish pepper soup and, in fact, that is my specialty in preparation but since the oil spill, people have withdrawn from eating the pepper soup.

“It has affected my business adversely as I hardly have any customer come for the delicacy these days,” Akpan said.

A dealer in frozen fish and sea food in Ibeno, Mrs Regina Nsopikpo, decried the oil spills and noted that the occurrence had become frequent “and has made people reluctant to eat fish”.

“We no longer make sales because people are avoiding fish. In fact, fishermen no longer go to sea to fish. The fish we sell now are from trawlers which operate outside Nigerian waters”.

“Oil operations in this area are really affecting our business negatively and that was why women joined the youths to protest the frequent oil spills.

“Even at that, Mobil has not considered paying compensation for any of the past spills to reduce the suffering of fishermen in the host community,” Nsopiko said.

Rev. Samuel Ayadi, Akwa Ibom Chairman of Artisan Fishermen Association of Nigeria (ARFAN), in a reaction to the development, advised fishermen in the area to withdraw from sea immediately.

“We have ordered our members to pull out until the ongoing clean up of the spill is completed,” he said but added that it was difficult to control fishermen, who were not members of ARFAN.

“I can say that our members numbering not less than 6,000 have complied with the directive to stay away from fishing in the meantime,” Ayadi said.

The Tide’s source recalls that coastal communities near the 960,000 barrels-per-day Qua Iboe Oil Export Terminal operated by MPN in Ibeno, have experienced oil spillages on three occasions in six months, namely December 4, 2009, March 24, and May 1.