Evaluation of Suitability of Omambala River in Anaku Community for Aquaculture Production

The importance of water as a resource that supports growth, survival and production offish cannot be over emphasized. Nigeria is blessed with numerous water bodies ranging from the marine (Atlantic Ocean), through the brackish waters (deltaic rivers and estuaries) to inland freshwaters (rivers, streams,springs and lakes). Despite these available resources, recent trends have shown decline in the Nigerian capture fisheries and this calls for development of aquaculture especially in fishing communities as they possess the potentials1.

Aquaculture is said to be the rational rearing of aquatic organisms (fish, shrimp, prawns, water snails) in an enclosed and fairly shallow body of water where all its life processes can be controlled2. It is an important sector for the nation’seconomic development, at a time when government is seeking ways to diversify the economy, from being purely oil based. This can contribute to alleviation of food insecurity, malnutrition and poverty through the provision of food of high nutritional value, income, and employment generation, decreased risk of monoculture production failure, improved access to water, enhanced aquatic resource management and increased farm sustainability3. Aquaculture is the fastest growing food producing industry in the world and global aquaculture production is likely to double in the next fifteen years, as a result of wild fisheries approaching their biological limits and the world demand for cultured fish continuing to increase4. Water pollution is the introduction of substances by man directly or indirectly which can cause harm to living resources, hazard to human health, hindrance to aquatic activities and impairment of water quality with respect to its use in agriculture, industrial and other economic activities5. Natural (erosion) and anthropogenic (agricultural discharge) activities affect the quality of regional surface water6. These activities have undesirable, effects on the natural environment. Also, uncontrolled land use, urbanization, deforestation, accidental (or unauthorized) release of chemical substances and discharge of untreated wastes or leaching of noxious liquids from solid waste deposits have impacted negatively on the quality of water resources7. Water quality evaluation is considered as a critical issue in recent years, especially when freshwater is becoming a scarce resource in the future5. Water quality evaluation aims to identify the sources of water pollution and develop a strategy for sustainable water source management, maintaining and promoting human health and other social and economic growth8. The fishing activities in the Anaku community is of great importance since fishing is an important income source, contributing to the economy of fisher folks living around Omamabala river. There has been a recent report on the number of fisher folks in Anaku fishing community who intend to increase fish production by engaging in fish culture but there is inadequate information on the quality of Omambala River for aquaculture production. Thus, this work was conducted to evaluate the suitability of Omambala river for aquaculture purposes in Anaku fishing community.