Kenyan fisherman. Photo by David Axe.
by DAVID AXE
When the Somali government collapsed in 1991, so too did Somalia’s ability to police its waters and regulate foreign vessels. For corporate fishing fleets from Asia and Europe, that meant rich shark and tuna fisheries suddenly wide open for exploitation. And boy did they exploit. Tales abound of foreign vessels stripping the fish from once-rich waters, and chasing away small-time Somali fishermen.
The problem got so bad that many displaced Somali fishermen picked up AK-47s and began boarding foreign vessels to demand “fees.” Thus Somali piracy was born. No wonder pirates are so popular — and untouchable to police — in many Somali fishing towns.
Today these small-time pirates have been bought out by large pirate bands that amount to seaborne organized crime. But that doesn’t mean that the illegal fishing has stopped. There are still legit fishermen in Somalia, and they’re still being squeezed by the foreigners. “Fishermen at Eyl district in Nugal region in the semi-autonomous state of Puntland are seriously complaining about foreign vessels,” our correspondent Mohamed Omar Hussein writes.
“There are several times when we have been chased by the foreign vessels, which are illegally taking our sea resources. And we have submitted our complains to our authority, but so far our authority has not done anything on this issue,” Abdifatah Mohammed, a senior fisherman in Eyl district, told Hussein. Puntland’s government lacks the resources and influence to change the behavior of billion-dollar industrial fishers.
Illegal fishing will continue. And it will continue providing legitimacy to pirates who these days are mostly just sea thugs.
Related:
State Department Praises Self-Defense against Pirates
Canadians Catch, Release Suspected Somali Pirates
Somali Insurgents Claim Boost from Yemen
Shipper Hires Mercenary Pirate-Fighters
Ship-Protection Firm “Looking at” Former Blackwater Pirate-Fighter
Pirates Surge in Gulf of Aden
A.U. Air Defenders Could Block Eritrean Arms
Maritime, Air Roles for A.U. Peacekeepers in Somalia
Puntland Scraps Makeshift Pirate-Fighting Force
Regaining the Initiative against Somali Pirates
World Politics Review: Counterpiracy Mission Targets Seafarers’ Hearts and Minds
What do you think?