Benthic study important to monitoring biodiversity recovery in Ogoni -HYPREP

By Mashe Umaru Gwamna

Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP)
said benthic study is very important to monitoring biodiversity recovery in Ogoni.

The project said this will help to establish the link between possible prevalence of different species of polycaetes at the Bomu shoreline, biodiversity recovery and HYPREP’s shoreline remediation and mangrove restoration efforts in Ogoni,

The Project Coordinator of HYPREP,Professor Nenibarini Zabbey, made the disclosure while launching benethic monitoring programme biodiversity, recovery in Ogoni and commemoration of International world polychaete day.

He said the launch is part of its programme to ascertain the level of biodiversity recovery following the ongoing shoreline remediation and mangroves restoration ongoing in the area.

He said “the marine organisms are not only indicator species but they also play important roles in marine food webs and ecosystems. He explained that the study will enable HYPREP track improvement in the ecosystem”.

Pro.f. Zabbey emphasized that “in monitoring the improvement in the environment, our best bet are the marine worms. These guys (marine worms) are permanently here. They are always very adaptive. Increase in their diversities or species richness will indicate improvement in the ecosystem we are working on”.

He maintained that “we are not using one indicator like the presence of fishes. Fishes are important to the livelihood of the people. But these marine worms form the base of food chains in the ecosystem.
“They serve as food to the fishes, If they are not there, the fishes will have nothing to eat’”, said .

The PC noted that the monitoring will be done quarterly . This holds some prospect for undergraduate and graduate interns on the Project to bud their horns in environmental science research.
He stressed that HYPREP is partnering with local institutions to further advance environmental research and is in talks with the University of Port Harcourt to establish a Chair in Wetland Research, with focus on restored mangrove areas to continue monitoring post restoration, describing it as an intergenerational monitoring programme.

Similarly, Professor of Political Science at the Indiana University, Indianapolis , Prof. Scott Pegg,also planted a symbolic mangrove at the Bomu Creek and commended HYPREP for its efforts in restoring oil-degraded mangrove areas in Ogoni.
Prof. Pegg , has over the years, carried out some humanitarian and community intervention programmes in Ogoni.

Also, HYPREP last week commenced the second phase of fish stock assessment to track improvement of biodiversity in rehabilitated mangrove areas in the Bomu Creek.
“This is to correlate the relationship between mangrove restoration and fish stock improvement”.

Meanwhile, This year’s International Polycaete Day was celebrated with monitoring exercise of polycaetes (Marine worms) in the creek of Bomu, Gokana LGA.
The International Polycaete Day is celebrated on July 1st, dedicated to the celebration and study of polychaetes also known as bristle worms, and in honour of the birthday of Dr. Kristian Fauchald, a renowned polychaete scientist. They are a diverse group of marine worms found in various marine environments.