Who Are the Real Pirates of the African Horn? Not Who You Might Think

Taiwanese Fishing Trawler
Caught in 2007 by Somali pirates

The crew was mostly mainland Chinese.  China, just one of the many nations announcing such hypocritical plans  has announced they will send a battleship to combat Somali pirates.

Picture allowed as Navy handout for noncommercial use.  Small boat approaching trawler is a US Navy craft arriving with humanitarian and medical assistance for the recently released crew.

Until recently, I was ignorant of the true reasons for Somali piracy, considering it just one of those regrettable things that happen in or near Africa arising from poverty and unemployment, and I didn't know of the fact that the Islamic Courts Government had stopped the practice in it's tracks, proving that any strong government is better than a weak on in the region, at least for the fight against piracy.

A couple months ago I started hearing via BBC reports that the big problem is that many other nations have actually been stealing the fish in Somali waters by sending big trawlers, etc. to the weak nation's waters, which continue to over-fish them.  This is a mass theft has gone on since the early nineties after the last united government in the nation.  Somalis also complain of pollutants also being dumped by foreign boats, and say that the foreigners used weapons and the threat of ramming to chase small Somali fishermen away from their own waters.

One source reports that  the Somali pirates were at first simply trying to  drive out the illegal parties who were draining their waters of its fish and, in fact, most of the boats caught by pirates even now are large commercial fishing vessels Somali waters.

Some of the toxic wastes have come ashore, making even living difficult for everyday Somalis.

Of course, people, in such a poorly governed nation as Somalia is now, seeing a lot of money to be made versus having their livelihood stolen,  often do go for what they can get.  But we should remember the original cause of this or we'll get another Israel-Palestine type problem where mainstream won't report on the reality at all.

Another BBC analysis I heard the other day said that a strong government in Somalia would be able to keep other nations from overfishing, and dumping in its territory and extract payments from the rich countries working in it's waters.  This would allow Somalia to build a strong security force and take care of it's people.  To begin with they could control piracy and that's what the Islamic courts did.

What we really need is to truly educate ourselves on the subject and pass it along, not simply accept the premise that the Somali pirates are the only or the worst bad guys in the picture.

From Garowe Online  I've gotten one list  of the
countries fishing in  Somali waters.  I was listening to the BBC report while driving and couldn't write their list down

GO reports:

I remember the BBC listing India as one of the nations that fish in the territorial waters off the Horn of Africa nation as well.

Scott Coughin-Smout reports at http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~ar120/somalia.html that the so-called Belize vessels are actually French and Spanish fishers under the Belize flag, and I do remember the BBC report mentioning something European nations' vessels are fishing under the flags of others in Somalia's territorial waters. 

So who are the real pirates, or at least the first, and the worst ones since they, like the profit Nathan's rich man, are stealing from the poor? 

The fact that every American doesn't understand the root causes of the Somalia piracy problem is mostly a failure of mainstream news, but also it does help to get outside its bounds.  If you can't catch "PRI The World" on the radio weekdays, it can be podcast for free via ITunes delivered podcast. 

Wikipedia on exclusive economic zones from the Convention of the Sea (used via the online encyclopedia's permission with attribution policy)

Exclusive economic zones (EEZs) 

Extend 200 nautical miles from the baseline. Within this area, the coastal nation has sole exploitation rights over all natural resources. The EEZs were introduced to halt the increasingly heated clashes over fishing rights, although oil was also becoming important. The success of an offshore oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico in 1947 was soon repeated elsewhere in the world, and by 1970 it was technically feasible to operate in waters 4000 metres deep. Foreign nations have the freedom of navigation and overflight, subject to the regulation of the coastal states. Foreign states may also lay submarine pipes and cables.

Sorry about breaking in like this when there is such a crisis in Gaza, but each time I've tried to do a report on this in the last few months something comes up.

Two news reports on rich nations' plans to combat piracy by sending warships to the Horn areas are almost comical in their hypocrisy:

China View reports that French combat vessels had stopped pirates and that other nations including China were sending war vessels to the area in "French warship foils two new attacks by Somali pirates ".

and even funnier is a report at Horseed a newssite set up by members of the Somali diaspora and learning fast how not to embarass those with the most money "Chinese vessels ready for Somalia mission "

In fact I started writing this report in response to a party writing a poorly informed post by some guy about the French warship actions.

Lets see if I can get a current mainstream or BBC report on the problem.

Checking Google News, I can only find one report that will talk about the fish stealing form the UK Independent "Johann Hari: When piracy is only self-defence ".  It also has a short history of classic piracy, and informs us that a lot of the illegal dumping was actually radioactive material as was shown when some of the barrels were washed up by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.

I've found a couple of reports by searching at the Beeb itself.  Given what I've heard through the radio program I mentioned above I'd have expected more, but will take what I can get:

January 2000:

Illegal fishing off Somalia on increase

A transcript of an oral report by BBC World offers only a few sentences in "Pirates - Part Two "

Excerpt of transcript:

Many foreign vessels fish in Somali waters illegally, so militia groups have taken it upon themselves to tax those who do.

Pirate fisherman provide cheap fish for home markets and Somali pirates support their towns and villages.

In the BBC Documentary mpg file linked from that page there are a couple more sentences on the problem, but that's all. They do admit that $600 million US dollars worth of fish are taken from Somali waters by other nations each year. But he Beeb also pretends that exclusive economic regions of the ocean start at 12 miles. Let China find oil and start drilling 25 miles off any UK territory and we'll see them sing a different tune. 

Map Gulf of Aden

Note that the Gulf never reaches 400 miles (643.7km--the key in the lower left corner is in kilometers instead of miles) wide making every point of passage to or from the Red Sea either in the exclusive economic zone of Yemen or Somalia

Map courtesy of Wikipedia under freely licensed permission with Wikipedia's usual request for attribution. Roll over picture for url of Wiki source

I've found a longer report on the UN Special Envoy to Somalia's report on illegal fishing and dumping in the waters surrounding the beleaguered land at "AFP:UN envoy decries illegal fishing, waste dumping off Somalia".

Excerpt:  

"It is a disaster off the Somali coast, a disaster (for) the Somali environment, the Somali population," he added.

Ould Abdallah said the phenomenon helps fuel the endless civil war in Somalia as the illegal fishermen are paying corrupt Somali ministers or warlords for protection or to secure fake licenses.

East African waters, particularly off Somalia, have huge numbers of commercial fish species, including the prized yellowfin tuna.

Foreign trawlers reportedly use prohibited fishing equipment, including nets with very small mesh sizes and sophisticated underwater lighting systems, to lure fish to their traps.

"I am convinced there is dumping of solid waste, chemicals and probably nuclear (waste).... There is no government (control) and there are few people with high moral ground," Ould Abdallah added.

Allegations of waste dumping off Somalia by European companies have been heard for years, according to Somalia watchers. The problem was highlighted in the wake of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami when broken hazardous waste containers washed up on Somali shores.

tags: pirates  somalia  fish pirates  trawlers  toxic wastes  2004 tsunami  boxing day tsunami  gulf of aden  yemen  exclusive economic zones  law of the seas  

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