The Two Piracies in Somalia - International MCS Network
The Two Piracies in Somalia - International MCS Network
The Two Piracies in Somalia - International MCS Network
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Describ<strong>in</strong>g the activity as "economic terrorism", Somali fishermen told IRIN that the poachers werenot only plunder<strong>in</strong>g the fish but were also dump<strong>in</strong>g rubbish and oil <strong>in</strong>to the sea. <strong>The</strong>y compla<strong>in</strong>ed theSomali government was not strong enough to stop it. "We want the <strong>in</strong>ternational agencies to help usdeal with this problem," said Husse<strong>in</strong>. "If noth<strong>in</strong>g is done about them, there soon won't be much fishleft <strong>in</strong> our coastal waters." Musse Gabobe Hassan and Mohamud Hassan Tako of the MogadishuMaritime and Fisheries Institute accuse foreign ships of illegal fish<strong>in</strong>g and dump<strong>in</strong>g of hazardouswaste <strong>in</strong> Somali waters. “<strong>Somalia</strong>’s coastal communities who eke their livelihood from the sea areappeal<strong>in</strong>g to the <strong>in</strong>ternational community for help stop the illegal fish<strong>in</strong>g fleets from both thedeveloped and develop<strong>in</strong>g countries that are robb<strong>in</strong>g our mar<strong>in</strong>e wealth and destroy<strong>in</strong>g its habitats”,they added.Like the UN Security Council, Chatham House, an <strong>International</strong> Affairs Th<strong>in</strong>k-Tank, <strong>in</strong> a muchpublicized recent Paper on piracy <strong>in</strong> <strong>Somalia</strong> failed to present a balanced view of the issue andconcentrated on the shipp<strong>in</strong>g piracy side of the co<strong>in</strong>. Roger Middleton, the author of the Paper,however, mentions <strong>in</strong> pass<strong>in</strong>g that European, Asian and African (Egypt and Kenya) illegally fish <strong>in</strong>the <strong>Somalia</strong> waters. In ignor<strong>in</strong>g the pr<strong>in</strong>cipal IUU factor, the orig<strong>in</strong> and the purpose of the shipp<strong>in</strong>gpiracy, UN and Roger Middleton seem to be either misled or pressured to take this one-sided courseby powerful <strong>in</strong>terests who want to cover up and protect the profitable bus<strong>in</strong>ess of illegal fish<strong>in</strong>g.<strong>The</strong>se crises of the illegal fish<strong>in</strong>g, waste dump<strong>in</strong>g, warlords/mafia deals and the loud compla<strong>in</strong>ts ofthe Somali fishermen and civil society have been known to UN agencies and <strong>in</strong>ternationalorganizations all along. <strong>The</strong> UN Agencies and organizations, which have been fully aware of thesecrises, often expressed concern and lamentations but never took any positive action aga<strong>in</strong>st thesecrim<strong>in</strong>al activities. It appears as if they have also failed to <strong>in</strong>form the UN Security Council of thistragedy before it passed its resolutions 1816 and 1838 early this year.Mr. Ould Abdalla, UN Secretary General Special Envoy for <strong>Somalia</strong>, who should know better,cont<strong>in</strong>ued to condemn Somali shipp<strong>in</strong>g piracy <strong>in</strong> a number of press statements and rightly so thourghbiased. In his latest Press Statement of 11/11/08 on the subject matter, he warmly welcomed theagreement by European Union member states to send ships to combat piracy off <strong>Somalia</strong>. “I amextremely pleased by the EU’s decision,” said Mr Ould-Abdallah. “Piracy off the Somali coast ispos<strong>in</strong>g a serious threat to the freedom of <strong>in</strong>ternational navigation and regional security”. But heforgot to condemn fish<strong>in</strong>g piracy, mention the Somali fish<strong>in</strong>g communities’ livelihood security or topropose concrete actions to deal with the two <strong>in</strong>ter-related piracies, which are like the two sides ofthe same co<strong>in</strong>.An FAO study, <strong>Somalia</strong>’s Fishery Review by Frans Teutscher, Nov. 11, 2005, states, “In the absenceof legal framework and/or for capacities for monitor<strong>in</strong>g, control and surveillance, extensive illegal,unreported and unregulated (IUU) is tak<strong>in</strong>g place and considerable quantities of non-targeted bycatch are discarded because they cannot presently be utilized”. <strong>The</strong> report said that the foreign IUUsmaximize their catch by fish<strong>in</strong>g throughout the year without regard to the wider mar<strong>in</strong>e ecosystem,not respect<strong>in</strong>g fish and crustacean spawn<strong>in</strong>g periods or irreparable damage done by their massivedrift nets and use of explosives or the loss of local fishermen’s livelihood.6