Key Points

• More than 80% of vessels under the Nigerian Trawlers Owners Association are docked and idle after diesel prices surged from around 900 naira per liter to between 1,800 and 2,000 naira.
• A standard 50-day fishing voyage is now financially unviable, cutting fish supply at Lagos markets including Ijora Fish Market and driving prices higher across the country.
• Industry sources warn that close to 10,000 direct and indirect jobs are at risk unless the federal government steps in with targeted diesel subsidies or structured fuel support.

More than 80 percent of vessels belonging to the Nigerian Trawlers Owners Association are sitting idle at Lagos jetties, grounded by diesel prices that have more than doubled and made ocean voyages financially ruinous for operators across Nigeria’s industrial fishing sector.

The association’s president, Mrs. Ben Okonkwo, was not available when a correspondent visited NITOA’s office in the Kirikiri area of Lagos, but sources close to her office described an industry in freefall.

The cost of Automated Gas Oil, which powers every trawler in the fleet, has surged from roughly 900 naira per liter to between 1,800 and 2,000 naira per liter, a jump of well over 100 percent.

“Right now, the prices are so high that you can’t even think of fueling a vessel for a 50-day trip. The vessel will come back at a very big loss,” the source said. “Operational costs have gone far beyond what companies can handle.

That’s why operators have brought their trawlers back to the jetty rather than remain at sea and continue recording losses.”

Markets are already feeling it

The consequences have reached consumers faster than anyone hoped. At Ijora Fish Market in Lagos, the volume of fish supplied by Nigerian trawlers has dropped sharply, and scarcity has pushed prices upward across outlets.

Both the artisanal and industrial segments of the sector are being squeezed, said retired Navy Capt. Oladele Robinson, national executive secretary of the Fisheries Cooperatives Federation of Nigeria.

Robinson explained that artisanal fishers depend on Premium Motor Spirit to run their smaller boats, while industrial operators rely entirely on diesel to keep trawlers at sea. Neither group has an alternative fuel source.

“At times, operators go to sea but are unable to secure enough catch to justify the cost of fuel, a situation that has driven up the prices of fish and other seafood,” Robinson said.

The math on a voyage no longer works

Sources close to NITOA’s leadership put the fuel burden in plain terms. Running a fishing trawler for a 50-day trip is the energy equivalent of keeping a diesel generator running continuously, around the clock, without stopping, for the entire duration of the voyage. At current prices, those voyages cannot generate enough revenue to cover costs.

“The industry is in a critical situation. Companies are going aground,” the source said.

Part of the price surge has been linked to global oil logistics disruptions tied to ongoing hostilities involving Iran. But the source said that explanation changed nothing about the domestic crisis, particularly given that the fishing sector has no substitute fuel.

“Yes, diesel affects everyone, but this industry runs 100 percent on it. There is no alternative. Without diesel, operations stop completely.”

Jobs across the value chain now exposed

The broader economic implications are sharpening. Close to 10,000 direct and indirect jobs across the fishing value chain are at risk without immediate government intervention, according to the NITOA source, who noted that seafarers, processing workers and vendors all depend on a functioning fleet.

Fish also remains one of the most affordable protein sources available to ordinary Nigerian households, and a prolonged supply shortage carries real nutrition implications, particularly in urban and coastal communities.

The source called for a structured government response, whether through targeted diesel subsidies, preferential AGO access or some other cushioning mechanism specific to the fishing industry.

Okonkwo has raised similar demands before, previously calling for subsidized diesel, duty waivers on fishing vessel spare parts and relief from Cabotage Act provisions she has argued do not apply to agricultural fishing operations. Those requests have yet to produce a visible policy response.

“If vessels are not running, where do the seafarers go? These vessels are meant to be at sea, not tied up at the harbour,” the NITOA source said.