What Are Those Warships Doing Off Somalia?

[UZTAAD]

Some European fishing boats wander down from the Mediterranean (and away from hated EU regulations) to trawl the lawless coast of Somalia for tuna, lobster, shrimp and shark.

 

"It is particularly ironic that many of the nations that are presently contributing warships to the anti-piracy flotillas patrolling, or set to patrol, the waters off the Horn of Africa, are themselves directly linked to the foreign fishing vessels that are busily plundering Somalia's offshore resources," Clive Schofield, an Australian research fellow at the University of Wollongong and author of a paper called Plundered Waters: Somalia's Maritime Resource Insecurity, has written.

 

Namely: France and Spain. Hogendoorn, at the International Crisis Group, singled out Spain. "I've spoken to diplomats in Europe who've made it quite clear that Spain has been very active in the piracy issue because of its own national interests," he said, "which can only be interpreted to mean that they have fishing vessels making lots of money off of fishing in Somali waters."

 

Decimation of Somali fishing is a major complaint of the pirates themselves. The notion of a Somali fisherman hijacking a cargo ships because of collapsing fish populations is over-simple — piracy is organized crime — but the complaints about systematic decimation of African fish is real. Many Somalis, in fact, think the warships they see from their beaches have arrived to make the seas safe for foreign boats.

 

Aboard a NATO frigate in September, a British officer, Lt. Cmdr. Graham Bennett, noticed the lack of fishermen out on a calm, sunny day. It was the start of fishing season in the Gulf of Aden — the monsoons had just ended — but Somali fishermen seemed to be staying home.

 

"We need to get the word out that we're not here to arrest everyone," he told me. "We got on Somali TV the other day [and] said we really do want to protect the fishermen themselves from piracy. But some of the Somali people thought we were just here to protect the European fishing trawlers. That surprised us a little."

 

 

read more from her

 

http://miller-mccune.com/europe/what-are-those-warships-doing-off-somalia-1615

[Shabelle]

The warships are there to protect their own national interests - escorting their trade ships whilst protecting their illegal trawlers.

 

This is what happens when people take you for a bunch of idi0ts, which is exactly what most Somalis are, frankly.

[N.O.R.F]

It's good when trawlers and chemical carrying ships are caught. However, for ALL people to empathise with them and their 'cause', the Pirates should release all other ships without ransoms paid when it is clear they are not violating Somali waters.

 

You can't be both.

[UZTAAD]

Originally posted by Norfsky:

It's good when trawlers and chemical carrying ships are caught. However, for ALL people to empathise with them and their 'cause', the Pirates should release all other ships without ransoms paid when it is clear they are not violating Somali waters.

 

You can't be both.

they won't do because they are after money no mater where , their motivation is not to protect the sea from illegal fishing trawlers, any how their activities will some how help deter some these ships not go Somali shores.