A study on the catch composition and diversity of cast net fisheries was conducted between May and August, 2017 in the New Calabar River, Rivers state, using cast net of varying mesh sizes (1.5mm and 2.5mm). Fish samples were collected from three sampling stations, viz. Station1-Aluu, Station 2-Choba and Station 3-Iwofe. The fish species recorded comprised of 26 species under 11 families, and one decapod crustacean. The three most abundant species were; Coptodon guineensis (25.11%), Coptodon zilli (18.56%) both from the Cichlidae family, and Penaeus nitialis (10.90%) from the Penaeidae family, while the least abundant species was Liza grandisquamis (0.13%) from the Mugilidae family. The diversity indices showed that station 2 recorded the highest number of species (21) while station 1 recorded the lowest with (12) species. Simpson's indexes of diversity, Simpson's reciprocal index, Shannon-weiner index, and Pielou's evenness index, were estimated. This study serves as a base line data which will assist relevant bodies in the management and conservation of fisheries resources in the New Calabar River. It is therefore recommended that for an improved and sustainable exploitation and management of fisheries resources of the New Calabar River, proper monitoring and management for fish stock must be done.

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The objective of the study was to elucidate and analyze key conditions for communal acadja system on the Badagry creek in Ipokia Local Government Area of Ogun State. A sample size of 120 respondents was used for the study. Data were collected with structured questionnaires and analysed with the use of descriptive statistics such as means and percentages. The study revealed that most (86.9%) of the respondents were fully involved in the communal acadja with only 9% of them participated primarily for income generation while the larger percentage of the respondents involved for subsistence. It was observed that the fishers have some degree of tenure on the area of installation because of traditional regulatory mechanism in place. However, some constraints faced by the fishers as a result of implantation of acadjas include abandon of certain fishing gears, changing of fishing grounds, small fishing grounds and destruction of fishing gears. It was therefore recommended that acadja systems should be planned and implanted in the context of multiple uses of water body that integrated acadja systems with fishing and migration.

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The Niger Delta is the Nigerian oil and gas province. About 10 – 40% of produced associated gas is underutilized and is flared into the environment. Gas flaring is the burning of natural gas and petroleum hydrocarbons in flare stacks by upstream oil companies in oil fields during operations. Flaring operations have adverse impacts on the environmental components and its aquatic resources. This paper reviewed the impacts of gas flaring on aquatic resources in the Niger Delta Region of Nigeria. The study revealed the induced thermal impacts on the aquatic environment to include alteration of ionic components, pH, temperature, conductivity, heavy metal concentration especially in rain water which could cause death of aquatic biota. Water toxicity from acid rain and heating from flare stacks had also caused some fish species to become extinct. Exposure to harmful air pollutants generated during incomplete combustion of gas had been linked to a variety of health hazards such as: cancer, neurological, reproductive and developmental consequences. It also affects vegetation leading to decrease in growth and productivity probably due to changes in soil quality parameters in the aquatic environment. Climate change has an impact on both physical and biological habitats, influencing biodiversity both directly and indirectly via interactions with other environmental factors. It is recommended that strict government legislations on how gas production projects may be conducted should be introduced and monitored. Regulatory agencies must fulfil their responsibilities of enforcing laws and regulregulations to check gas flaring activities in order to protect the aquatic resources of the Niger Delta Region.