Nasarawa suspends fishing for 6 months, restocks Doma Dam

Nasarawa State Government has restricted all forms of fishing activities at the Doma Dam in the next months, to enable it clean up the dam for new species of fish to reproduce.

In order to achieve the desired results from the initiative, the state government has released into the dam, 25,000 fingerlings of the heterotis fish specie in order to tackle shortage of fish in the area and the state as a whole.

Habiba Balarabe Suleiman, the Director General, Human Capital Development in the state, who supervised the handing over, and subsequent released of the fingerlings into the dam, said the gesture was to ensure all residents of the state, both in urban and rural areas enjoy government services.

She however, expressed government determination to empowered the fishing communities with such gestures to ensure fish surplus in the state.

The Human Capital DG, explained that, there had been complaints of shortage of fish in the area, which necessitated the proactive step by the State government tho empower them with the 25,000 Heterotis fish fingerlings.

She added that, the first phase of the empowerment will pave the way for the supply of other species of fingerlings in the coming phases.

“We are here to witness the first phase of revitalising the Doma Dam, and as you witnessed earlier, the 25,000 fingerlings Heterotis species have been released into the Dam.

Read also: 9 key areas and expectations of Nigeria’s educational system up to 2027

“This is a low maintenance specie of fish and one of its core responsibility is to clean up the Dam to further prepare it for other species to be able to live and reproduce in the Doma Dam.

“The people of the area are happy. They have pledged to support us because now, it is going to be a closed season for six months and they have agreed that there will be no fishing activity within that period of six months.

“The government on its own part is looking at other alternatives for economic activities for the people, which would involve trading and farming.

“There has been shortage of fish, so boosting the fish here in Doma Dam is of great value to the people.

“This is done solely for the people. They are the ones that stand to benefit the most and we are hoping that we will see increased fishing activities that will yield economic growth for the people of the area and Nasarawa State in general.”

Jonathan Addra, the Chairman of Doma local government, who was represented by his Chief Press Secretary, Ahmed Ibrahim, thanked the state government for the laudable initiative, and urged the residents of the area to give the needed support to the state government to achieve its aims of improving their livelihoods.

The Nasarawa State Chairman of Fisheries Cooperative, Bashir Mohammed Umar, said for over a year, the association had been worried over the scarcity of fish across the state.

He added that, the support by the state government will greatly help to reduce the sufferings of fishermen and women in the state.

“Our people have been traveling far away from the state to look for fish, but with this lovely initiative by the State’s Human Capital Development Agency, we are confident that in the coming months, we will be having enough fish that can serve the entire residents of the state,” he added.

The District Head of Ohina Angwan Agatu in Doma Dam community, Yakubu Igyageyi who spoke on behalf of the other communities in the area, thanked the Nasarawa State government for the support, which is aimed at boosting fishing activities in area.

He, however appealed for food stuffs and other essential commodities from the government in order to reduce their challenges during the six months waiting period.