The fish and animals that were commonly found around the Niger Delta before the advent of oil exploitation are suffering from depleted populations or complete extinction. Some varieties of bush meat have almost all disappeared because of oil spills and acid rain. Local women are significantly affected by the declining marine resources such that shellfish, crabs, and oysters that they used to gather from the streams and mangroves for consumption and sale. In the coastal communities, moon fish has become scarce, while scale fish that used to be plentiful in natural fishponds has disappeared. The populations of tilapia and catfish are depleted, and fishermen must travel far out to sea for their catch which is often small and contains fish that smell of crude oil and are not safe for consumption.
Oil pollution has also affected traditional cultural practices such as fish and yam festivals which were organised to celebrate a bountiful harvest during rainy and harvest seasons are no longer sustainable.
As food production decreases, local people find it difficult to access staple food that is indigenous to the region and was commonly consumed in their communities. Most of the indigenous food consumed in the oil communities is prepared with cassava. In Owodokpokpo-Igbide community, the indigenous dish is garri and starch (made from fermented cassava), eaten with banga or fish pepper soup. In Otuasega fufu is made from fermented cassava (akpukuru) with ogbono and fish. The decline in cassava yield is attributed to the effect of oil pollution on soil nutrients and this affects the availability of these local foods. When oil spills affect soil nutrients, this in turn affects cassava leaves, and if they grow at all, they grow slowly and only yield tiny tubers.
Other staple foods crops that are indigenous to the region such as yam, plantain, and cocoyam are often not available because of poor harvests. In the Beneku community, the high cost of yam seedlings and the threat of pests have prevented most farmers from cultivating yam even though it is the local food indigenous to the community. In Otuasega, mama coco (known as amasi in the local dialect), is a species of cocoyam that used to a local delicacy eaten with palm oil and smoked catfish. But the mama coco crops planted since the completion of the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas plant project have all withered.
