Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, Project Coordinator of the Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), yesterday returned to the Bomu Creek to continue the restoration of the bloody cockle culture. He introduced broodstock and spat to the bed in an effort to bring seafood back to the region.
This step builds on earlier efforts by HYPREP to restore the cockle through artificial propagation and restocking. The project is working with the African Regional Aquaculture Centre (ARAC), the University of Port Harcourt and the Rivers State University.
Professor Zabbey said the team is “optimistic about the successful outcome of the laboratory research and the setting up of a complimentary field-based experiment by culturing the cockle broodstock in the wild. This will enable monitoring of their reproductive outputs.”
The culture beds at Bomu Creek have also been seeded with young cockles collected from the wild. Their survival and growth will be monitored to track progress.
According to HYPREP, the method is nature-based, low-tech and ecologically friendly. It is designed to ensure sustainability while reviving seafood production in the area.
The cockle, a bivalve shellfish locally known as koo, once flourished on the tidal flats of Ogoni communities such as Bodo, Bomu, Gbe and Kaa.
For decades, it was a major source of animal protein and income for local people.
However, overharvesting and oil pollution caused the collapse of cockle stocks, leaving the species locally extinct across parts of Ogoni.