Owuogono Community Bemoans Disruptions to Fishing Activities, Environmental Hazards by Ships Sailing by its Shores

A fishing settlement in Ogu-Bolo Local Government Area of Rivers State, Owuogono Community has decried the effects of marine vessels sailing by its shores and disrupting fishing activities by her people and threatening their means of livelihood.

Vice Chairman of Owuogono Community, Nemi Samuel told Kristina Reports on Thursday, June 12, 2025 that the issue has been on for more than 10 years and a very recent event occurred on May 31, 2025.

He said on that fateful day a vessel tagged UAL Africa allegedly sailed by during low tide, wreaking havoc on the community’s creeks and waterways and negatively impacting the environment around it.

Checks by Kristina Reports indicate that the said ship, which belongs to Universal Africa Lines (UAL) Alliance, is a Multi-Purpose Product (MPP) dry cargo ship with International Maritime Organization (IMO) registration number: 9529243 currently sailing the flag of Netherlands.

Further checks by Kristina Reports on www.vesselfinder.com shows that the current position of UAL AFRICA is at West Africa reported four hours ago by its automatic identification system (AIS).

The vessel, which is a general cargo ship built 14 years ago in 2011, is reported to be en route to the port of Onne in Rivers State, Nigeria, and expected to arrive there by 12noon on May 31, 2025.

“We were all resting in our homes after the night fishing, at about 12:30am, the vessel passed and dragged all our cables to the sea, some fishing boats were rescued while five fishing boats and fishing materials were lost.”

The Vice Chairman maintained that the situation is becoming more worrisome and all effort to seek the intervention of the Nigeria Port Authority proved futile as they’ve been making promises without fulfilment.

“They keep promising that they will do something about it but up to now we are still passing through the same challenge.”

He called on the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA) and National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) to consider the plight of his people and probe the activities of the said vessel among others.

An enquiry to UAL Alliance by Kristina Reports over the matter was yet to be responded to as at the time of this report.