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From: Berhane Habtemariam (Berhane.Habtemariam@gmx.de)
Date: Mon Jun 27 2011 - 10:09:50 EDT
SOMALIA: Fishermen driven from the sea by illegal trawlers
NAIROBI, 27 June 2011 (IRIN) - More than two years after Somali officials
announced plans to regulate fishing in the country's troubled waters,
illegal trawlers continue to operate while local fisherman suffer attacks
and depleted catches.
The fishermen are not only losing a way of life but their lives, according
to Somali fishermen.
"We are not only being denied our fish but our lives are also in danger,"
said Mohamed Abdirahman, a member of Bosasso fishing cooperative, in the
self-declared autonomous region of Puntland, northeastern Somalia.
"Early this year we lost five members after their boat was run over by a big
ship and I can tell you it was no accident," said Abdirahman.
Somalia has the longest coastline in Africa, at 3,330km, with major landing
sites in Kismayo, Mogadishu, Merka and Brava in the south, and Eil, Bargal,
Bolimog, Las Korey and Berbera, and Bosasso in the north. It also has large
fish species, including tuna, mackerel; as well as smaller ones such as
sardines.
Mohamed Moalim Hassan, Somalia's minister of fisheries, told IRIN the
interim government was trying to establish the country's internationally
recognized maritime boundaries and enact laws to regulate fishing in its
waters.
"We are in the process of establishing the maritime zone of the republic of
Somalia in accordance with the Law of the Seas," he said.
Hassan said any foreign vessel currently fishing in Somalia's territorial
waters did not have a legal license from the government. "They are doing so
illegally."
Boiling water
According to Abdirahman, some of the foreign trawlers spray Somali fishermen
with boiling water from cannons. He said many members of his cooperative
were no longer venturing far from the coastline.
"We stay close to the coast, maybe two miles from the shore, to avoid the
military ships and the big foreign fishing vessels," he said, adding they
were catching less and less fish.
Mohamed Farah Aden, Puntland's minister of fisheries, told IRIN Somali
fishermen had become victims of pirates, foreign fishing trawlers and the
international navies.
"Our information is that fishermen were killed, or had their fishing gear
taken or destroyed by all three," Aden said.
Abdullahi Nur Hassan, a fisherman in the southern port city of Kismayo, told
IRIN on 22 June: "Many of my friends have quit fishing because they are
afraid of falling victim to these big ships [foreign trawlers], pirates or
military ships."
Hassan said foreign vessels had rammed their boats and taken their fishing
nets on numerous occasions. "It is daylight robbery but they are getting
away with it," he said.
NATO forces, as well as those from other countries, such as Russia, India
and China, continue to police Somalia's coastline.
Hassan said he wished the naval forces would also protect them from the
foreign fishing vessels.
Danger of piracy
Piracy off Somalia's coast has made life doubly dangerous for fishermen, who
have been kidnapped and held for days so that pirates can use their boats,
said Hassan.
Gangs of pirates steal boats and engines, and are driving some fishermen out
of business, according to an
<http://oceansbeyondpiracy.org/cost-of-piracy/human-cost-somali-piracy>
Oceans Beyond Piracy report.
"Armed security teams have opened fire on fisherman believing them to be
pirates because they were holding AK47s," said Wing Commander Paddy
O'Kennedy, outgoing spokesman for the European Union Naval Force Somalia (EU
NAVFOR). "What they didn't know, because their training hadn't been that
good, is that everyone out there carries AK-47s or else their fish will be
pinched."
According to the report, there is no documentation on Somali fishermen
killed by private security companies or armed guards who mistake them for
pirates.
However, Hassan, the Kismayo fisherman, said the international military
response to piracy sometimes wrongly targeted fishermen.
"We are getting hit from all sides," he said. "We are not only targeted by
these foreign fishing vessels but we also fall victim to the military ships,
which don't differentiate between pirates and fishermen."
Mohamed Abshir Waldo, a consultant based in Mombasa, said: "It appears that
as far as the naval forces are concerned any Somali on the sea is a pirate."
However, Cmdr Harrie Harrison, EU NAVFOR spokesman, denied this claim.
"There is no policy of deliberate interaction with any Somali vessel that
isn't showing deliberate signs of piracy," he said.
Sixteen-foot climbing ladders and boarding equipment, taken together with
guns on display, make it easy to distinguish between fishermen and pirates,
according to Harrison.
"It all adds up in the way that if a policeman came across someone late at
night with a balaclava and a wrecking ball, he'd say this guy isn't just
walking home from the pub," he said. "I can assure you that vessels are not
picked upon simply because of their size."
Harrison added there were very few Somali fishing vessels out at sea where
the naval forces patrolled.
Somalia's industrial fishing fleet, which only came into existence in the
early 1970s with Soviet support, has been moribund for years, its ships in
Aden Harbour in Yemen. The sector currently consists of small vessels for
subsistence fishing and small-scale commercial operators
Illegal fishing, dumping
But, according to Mombasa-based consultant Waldo, fishermen have no way of
standing up to illegal trawlers and ships dumping toxic, nuclear or other
waste without being labelled pirates by military forces.
Illegal fishing and dumping by foreign vessels was the original impetus for
bands of fishermen to become pirates. According to the Oceans Beyond Piracy
report, these problems have never been adequately addressed.
Waldo said Somali elders asked for NATO assistance in combating the illegal
fishing and dumping, but were told there was no mandate for that. He said
some rich nations turned a blind eye as hundreds of illegal, unregulated and
unreported fishing vessels plundered Somalia's maritime wealth and dumped
toxic and nuclear waste.
Aden said some of the foreign vessels illegally fishing in Somali waters
were owned by the some of the same countries patrolling its shores. "So you
can say that [foreign trawlers] have found protection." He added, "the
problem is no one is protecting our people."
Aden said the Puntland authorities had raised the issue with the
international forces patrolling the Somali coast but "we have no tangible
response."
Despite the fact that most piracy proceeds are spent in the local economy,
many Somalis suffer under the shadow economy created by piracy, according to
a May report by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
The report said Somali communities "bear a considerable brunt of the effects
of piracy. There are numerous reports about the extensive inflation in the
cost of basic goods following successful piracy attacks. This false economy
has led to dramatic price increases."
These distortions send prices up four-fold, and hurt regular Somalis who can
no longer afford basic goods. "They even affect marriage costs since
families expect higher dowries," said UNODC.
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