World Ocean Day: There Are Unusual Activities Going On In Our Waters – HOMEF, FishNet Alliance Posit

As the world observes ‘The Ocean Day’, the Health of Mother Earth Foundation (HOMEF) and FishNet Alliance, have jointly said that the ocean and other waterbodies have become dumpsites of all sorts, polluting and extreme exploitation. This was as the Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), noted that there are a lot of unusual activities going on in our waters that must not be allowed to continue if we want a healthy ocean and planet.

The two bodies therefore decaled that it was time for humans to reflect on our exploitative, violent, and destructive relationship with the ocean and embrace a new beginning.

With the theme, “Wonder: Sustaining What Sustains Us”, HOMEF and FishNet Alliance noted that the ocean and other water bodies are continuously subjected to a barrage of assaults at local, national, and international levels.

The two Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), said the ocean is one vast body of water with various faces. It accounts for approximately 71% of the Earth and plays significant roles in environmental and climate systems, and more broadly, in life on Earth.

The organisations said that beyond its diverse faces—Pacific, Atlantic, Indian, Arctic, and Southern—the ocean is connected to and interacts with other comparatively smaller surface water bodies, such as seas, gulfs, bays, lagoons, estuaries, and groundwater systems.

They also said that ocean ecosystems supply a substantial amount of oxygen to the atmosphere and offer various services that ensure the survival of all species on Earth.

In a statement, the Executive Director of HOMEF, Dr. Nnimmo Bassey, highlighted the importance of the World Ocean Day, which is celebrated annually on June 8, to underscore the immeasurable importance of the world’s ocean and garner support for their protection.

The statement issued by Kome Odhomor, Media and Communications Lead of HOMEF, stated that Dr Bassey said that the concept that the ocean cycles itself acts as a greenhouse gas sink has been misconstrued to mean that the ocean can filter and clean itself no matter what is dumped in it.

According to Bassey; “Corporate interests have been substituted for national and people-centred interests, as communities that live along the coasts, bear the brunt of such abnormalities.

“Now is the time for all to rise to the occasion to protect the ocean. The continued burning of the Ororo Oil well over a period of five years is a sad commentary on ecocide on our waters,” he stressed.

In his own remarks, Mr Stephen Oduware, a Programme Manager with HOMEF and Coordinator of the Fishnet Alliance, a network of fishers across Africa, emphatically said that the world’s fisheries depend on the ocean.

According to him; “The two major sides of the ocean bordering Africa – the Atlantic and Indian, along with their associated gulfs, are experiencing shortfalls in fishing due to vested and powerful interests. Industrial fishing, including the use of bottom trawlers, is partly responsible for unsustainable fishing and illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing in the region.

“These practices not only harm fisheries but also harm the ocean and create imbalances in the ecosystems the ocean supports. These unchecked activities in the territorial waters of Africa must stop. Fishers of the world unite,” he emphasised.

The organisations further said that climate change, primarily caused by human activities, is impacting the ocean, adding that dead zones are proliferating just as pollution from minerals and fossil fuel extraction and production processes is occurring.

According to the NGOs; “Unsustainable industrial fishing practices are occurring, intentional waste dumping is occurring, and disturbances of the ocean floor and seabeds are among a long list of destructive activities.

“As ocean surface temperatures increase, global warming will also rise. Therefore, protecting the ocean from these forms of degradation would ultimately safeguard the Earth. Let’s protect the ocean and force others to respect it because we are the ocean; we are part of the ocean family”.

Health of Mother Earth Foundation is an ecological think tank advocating for socio-ecological justice and food sovereignty in Nigeria and Africa while the FishNet Alliance secretariat sits with HOMEF at its international headquarters in Nigeria.