Categories: EKO NEWS

NIOMR Urges Youths To Participate In Fishing Industry

NIOMR has urged youths to participate in the fishery industry.

Ekohotblog reports that the Nigerian Institute for Oceanography and Marine Research (NIOMR), has called for youth participation in the fishing industry.

NIOMR’s Acting head of Extension Research and Liason Services, Ayorinde Adefolake made this call during an outreach training program for students of Ikeja Senior Grammar School, Bolade, Oshodi, Lagos, said this will improve the Gross Domestic Product of the country.

The training is part of the Department of Extension Research and Liason Service mandate to reach out and disseminate validated research findings of the institute to the end-users, from Fish farmers and Fishers folks, the community, the industries, individuals and students at large.

Adefolake noted that the intervention program, which is part of her department mandate is aimed at enlightening the youth at an early age, reorienting them to venture into agriculture and becoming an entrepreneur, in so doing, contribute to the GDP of the nation.

According to her, the abundant water resource Nigeria posses, if truly harnessed through NIOMR’s technology, would reduce the huge deficit in the fisheries industry, as well as cut down on the importation of fish into the country.

”We have a deficit, a gap in the fisheries industry. So we’re hoping with this kind of intervention that gap will also be filled. This is because we import most of the fish we eat in this country and this is not supposed to be in a nation that has abundant water resources.

“In Lagos state alone, we have an abundant water resource which if truly harnessed using the various technologies we have will go a long way to cater for our fish need. we have cage culture, we have a value addition plant where we fabricate equipment for smoking fish and so on, we can improve the economy,” she said.

Explaining further on how the intervention would benefit the students, as well as improve the economy, Adefolake said, ” If myself and you should have a backyard fish farm projects, we will not have to go to the sea all the time to fish. This is not like the olden days when we will have to go fishing anytime we want to feed. Even fishing is seasonal, there are times you get to catch at the sea, and there are times you don’t get a catch, and we know that there’s overfishing, fish that would have been otherwise allowed to recoup themselves.

“We have to feed ourselves, and knowing the fact that we’re overpopulated and fish is one of the cheapest sources of protein, and a lot of people are around the coast, that is their profession, they have to feed their families, make money and income from selling fish, so if for instance, you and I have a backyard fish farm, because the technology has improved to that level, where one can just get plastic and rear fish in the house, definitely that would be beneficial to the economy of the nation and everyone at large.”

Commending the brilliant initiative by the agency, Vice Principal of Ikeja Senior Grammar School, Mrs Onwuma Bosede Susan, said that the training would help the students to develop skills of becoming entrepreneurs, which will make them look outside of white-collar jobs.

She said, ” it’s very beneficial to the students, as nowadays we’re advocating the development of skills, we want our students to develop a different kind of skills and we know there are different types of skills students can learn, so this particular training helps them to develop their skill of becoming entrepreneurs, makes them look outside of collar jobs, most times student of nowadays wants to go out of schools and wanting to go to government jobs, looking for white-collar jobs, but if they learn what they can do practically, physically, they wouldn’t need to go out there and be job hunting, they would be able to establish something of their own and this would make them be self enhanced”.

See photos for the event: