Fishermen under attack from wealthy countries

[IndianaGreen]

Fishermen under attack from wealthy countries

Sunday 01 November 2009

Somali pirates who are demanding £4.2 million in ransom for a British couple have said that boats from wealthy countries are plundering Somalia's fish-rich waters.

Ahmed Gadaf, who described himself as a spokesman for the pirates, said that foreign fishing vessels "harass" local fishermen and destroy their nets.

Mr Gadaf says the British couple, Paul and Rachel Chandler, are safe and will not be harmed.

On Saturday the British government reiterated its refusal to ransom the pair, saying in a statement that officials would not make any "substantive concessions to hostage-takers."

The Chandlers were headed to Tanzania in their yacht when a distress signal was sent on October 23.

The British navy found their empty vessel on Thursday and both have since been in sporadic contact with the media.

On Wednesday Somali Prime Minister Omar Abdirashid Ali Sharmarke claimed that fishermen from European countries and further afield are fishing illegally in Somali waters and have pushed formerly profitable Somali fishermen into the pirate trade.

Speaking at the London-based Chatham House think tank, Mr Sharmarke said that many pirates are former fishermen "responding to the loss and disappearance of their livelihoods."

http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/index.php/news/world/Fishermen-under-attack-from-wealthy-countries

[virgogal]

Dup

[virgogal]

1. So all of this piracy is about fish? Sure it is.

[TheMadMonk]

2. As a matter of fact yes it is.

When Somalia collapsed into civil war, international fishing fleets immediately moved into Somali waters and utterly wiped out the fisheries there. The area was so heavily overfished by bottom trawling that the coral reefs were reduced to so much gravel.

[imdjh]

5. You're saying that the fisheries are "utterly wiped out" but the OP claims they are fish rich and...

... being poached. Moreover, a frequent claim in the last round of piracy was that the Somalis are defending themselves against illegal chemical dumping by the same people being accused of fish poaching.

[TheMadMonk]

7. Were fish rich, and yes, now pretty much wiped out.

And, furthermore I also believe that the dumping is taking place. Just as it would appear it is taking place in the Mediteranian with the Mafia taking a slice of the Waste Disposal industry. And quite probably plenty of other places around the world.

These people have no legitimate livelihood. No fish to catch, and also no market to sell to. I don't condone their piracy, however I do understand their choice to do it, they are hitting back at the nations who failed to curb their fishing fleets, and lost all interest in their waste, the moment it left their waters.

Just for the record, I understand that the vast majority of the ransoms paid will end up in the hands of a few local bullies. That's the way of the world and it happens just as much here in our own backyards as there. We just cover it locally with a veneer of (in)civility and play by fomalised rules that just coincidentally have the same net effect as open force and intimidation, just with slightly fewer bloodstains.

[depakid]

3. So, are foreign fishing vessels attacked?

:shrug:

[ProgressiveProfessor]

4. Sounds pretty fishy to me

[proteus_lives]

6. They are pirates, mercs, scum.

Why don't they attack these fishing vessels instead of kidnapping?

They are scumbag mercs out for a paycheck, nothing else.

We sent in the Seals, time for the Brits to send in the SAS.