Many foreign vessels, but especially European ones, have not only harvested the Somalian coast through illegal fishing, but have also used it as a dumping ground for its dangerous, toxic and even nuclear waste.

(Madrid) EUROPEAN UNION AND NATO ships have been patrolling the Gulf of Eden for weeks in an effort to avoid attacks from Somalian pirates. However, they will not be able to do much to keep this phenomenon in check in the long run if another lesser known but closely related issue is not addressed: illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing by foreign vessels in Somalia’s waters.

Many foreign boats, sailing under various flags but especially European ones, have not only harvested the Somalian coast, but have also used it to get rid of dangerous, toxic and even nuclear waste. UN organizations have reported that these illegal activities have exhausted and contaminated the sea, and have left coastal communities with no alternatives or resources.

A FAILED STATE

Ever since the early nineties, Somalia has constituted one of the most prominent examples of a “failed State”. After the fall of Siad Barre’s regime in 1991, the State and its institutions collapsed, and a civil war that has involved numerous armed players and warlords began, and continues to this very day. There are no institutions or laws, or authorities to enforce them, or that can, for example, control the borders. All of this has been substituted by a myriad of sub-state players who are competing with each other for resources and power.

There have been fourteen attempts to form a government since 1991, and all of them have been unsuccessful, for various reasons, such as a wide range of foreign interventions with limited guarantees and useless results. Currently, it looks like the transitional government is having the same luck, and only exercises control over a part of the capital, Mogadishu.

According to NGOs and UN agencies, the country is experiencing one of the most serious humanitarian crises in the world. Thousands of people have been displaced, and hundreds of thousands have fled to countries such as Kenya, Yemen and Saudi Arabia (there are 300,000 in Kenya alone, and 5,000 more arrive each month). According to Doctors Without Borders, 70 percent of children under five years of age present symptoms of acute malnutrition. A third of the approximately eight million inhabitants are in urgent need of foreign aid, and the per capita income does not exceed 600 dollars annually. The chaos is spilling outside of its borders and inciting tension in Kenya, Ethiopia and Eritrea.

SECURITY AT RISK

Within this context, piracy is only one of the country’s many problems, even if it is given great importance from outside observers because it puts the security of the strategic Gulf of Eden, which is crossed by 20,000 ships annually, at risk.

Pirates carried out more than 100 attacks in 2008, of which 40 ended in kidnappings and yielded more than 100 million dollars in ransoms.

But this is only a partial picture of the piracy phenomenon. Something that has also occurred – although it is rarely given much attention – is that industrial fishing boats from numerous countries, including Spain, took advantage of the situation in order to fish without boundaries or rules in those waters, which are very rich in many species in demand in the markets of developed countries, such as tuna or lobster. In some cases, this fishing took place without licenses; in others, they were operating with licenses that had been granted by businesses that were really just covers for the warlords and, as such, were illegal.

IUU fishing is a global phenomenon that has been denounced by many international organizations and agencies, and whose annual profits fluctuate between 4 and 9 billion dollars.

These boats operate illegally and on an industrial scale, without respecting borders or biological boundaries, and they cause the destruction of ecosystems. We are talking about industrial ships that can go months without docking, since they refuel and unload their cargo at high seas, where their crew rotation also takes place. An important chunk of this fishing takes place in the waters of Africa, and Somalia in specific.

AUTHORITIES THAT DON’T EXIST

The High Seas Task Force estimates that in 2005 there could have been some 800 fishing boats fishing in Somalian waters, and of them 700 were dedicated to fishing exclusively in those waters, where they can take advantage of the absence of authorities in order to fish free from control.

The value of the catch has been estimated to be 450 million dollars annually, while the local fishermen who lose their means of living and income are not compensated, and taxes are not paid to the authorities that do not exist. It is an excellent, lucrative deal, with those hurt the most being the coastal region communities, who live off of fishing. Consequently, among this population, a significant number of people do not see those branded as pirates as such, but rather as a defense against foreign predatory agents.

Even before 1991, due to several droughts, many nomadic communities had been relocated to areas along the country’s more than 3,000 kilometer long coastline. As of that point, fishing became their means of living. However, this would be threatened by the foreign vessels that started to illegally fish these waters in 1991, including within the twelve mile territorial boundary limit, and as such compete with the local fisherman, while holding a clear advantage over them. Initially, the pirates’ actions were merely defensive, as they trying to preserve their means of living (they even called themselves Somalia’s “local coast guard”). In the process, both sides became armed, eventually reaching the intensity of the current conflict in which, of course, many have already outgrown this phase and now act as organized crime networks. But the true reason for their existence cannot be forgotten.

INDUSTRIAL WASTE

Another problem connected with this one is the industrial, toxic and even nuclear waste being dumped off of the coast of Somalia, which is still ongoing, as there are no authorities to patrol its waters. Aside from businesses and hospitals, especially European ones, the Italian mafia has also chosen this place to get rid of its dangerous waste. The contamination has been confirmed by UN agencies and was laid bare in a shocking way in December 2004. When the tsunami originating in Southeast Asia reached the Somalian coast, it hurled hundreds of barrels of unidentified waste against it. More than 300 people died from radiation, as reported by Somalia’s UN envoy, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, who also assured the organization that there were metals like mercury and cadmium. The United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) confirmed these reports.

PROTECTING WHOM?

The EU, the UN and NATO, as well as some countries, have passed measures and in some cases have warships patrolling the waters in order to protect vessels from pirates. This might be necessary, and there should be an attempt to control the violence. However, the problem will not be resolved as long as its roots are not kept in mind. Some sectors have even accused these troops of protecting the “other” pirates: those from their places of origin. We should take a more broader approach to the fishing issue and the behavior of the ships that illegally fish in and harvest the country’s waters. Taking this a step further, piracy is only one symptom of the many evils afflicting Somalia that deserve more coordinated and careful attention.

This will not be easy. Successive attempts at foreign interference in Somalia, including the American intervention under the protection of the UN in 1993, failed because they were not accompanied by an in-depth analysis of the complex Somalian society, its history and the factors leading to the violence. Piracy is one more example of this, since it is an attempt to treat the symptoms without facing up to the causes. There is more than one type of pirate on the Somalian coast, and the problem should be addressed globally. But the current situation in Somalia is very complex and, given the international situation, it will be difficult to pay the necessary attention to it. The African Union does not have the necessary resources either.