How Somalia's Fishermen Make Money From Piracy

Ever since a civil war brought down Somalia's last functional government in 1991, the country's 3,330 km (2,000 miles) of coastline — the longest in continental Africa — has been pillaged by foreign vessels. A United Nations report in 2006 said that, in the absence of the country's at one time serviceable coastguard, Somali waters have become the site of an international "free for all," with fishing fleets from around the world illegally plundering Somali stocks and freezing out the country's own rudimentarily-equipped fishermen. According to another U.N. report, an estimated $300 million worth of seafood is stolen from the country's coastline each year.

In the face of this, impoverished Somalis living by the sea have been forced over the years to defend their own fishing expeditions out of ports such as Eyl, Kismayo and Harardhere — all now considered to be pirate dens. Somali fishermen, whose industry was always small-scale, lacked the advanced boats and technologies of their interloping competitors, and also complained of being shot at by foreign fishermen with water cannons and firearms.

The waters they sought to protect were "an El Dorado for fishing fleets of many nations. High-seas trawlers from countries as far flung as South Korea, Japan and Spain have operated down the Somali coast, often illegally and without licenses, for the better part of two decades.

In the early days of Somali piracy, those who seized trawlers without licenses could count on a quick ransom payment, since the boat owners and companies backing those vessels didn't want to draw attention to their violation of international maritime law. This allowed the pirates to build up their tactical networks and whetted their appetite for bigger spoils.

Monitoring and combating any of these misdeeds is next to impossible — Somalia's current government can barely find its feet in the wake of the 2006 U.S.-backed Ethiopian invasion. And many Somalis, along with outside observers, suspect local officials in Mogadishu and in ports in semi-autonomous Puntland further north of accepting bribes from foreign fishermen as well as from pirate elders.

In the meantime, Somali piracy has metastasized into the country's only boom industry. Most of the pirates, observers say, are not former fishermen, but just poor folk seeking their fortune, making money from piracy. Right now, they hold 18 cargo ships and some 300 sailors hostage — the work of a sophisticated and well-funded operation.

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Somalia Piracy Money Distribution

Piracy in Somalia is well coordinated and it is interesting to note how the ransom collected is spent:

* Pirates involved in hijacking keep only 30 percent.
* Pirates’ bosses keep 20 percent.
* Government officials take 30 percent.
* Remaining 20 percent is spent for future operations like: buying weapons, communication equipment, vehicles etc.,

Here is a pie chart showing the distribution.


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Who benefited from Somali piracy?

1. Unemployed Somalian youths who are recruited by the pirates as extra muscle power.

2. Foreign businessmen who provide weapons, satellite phones, luxury vehicles

3. Poor fishermen hired by the pirates to provide navigational skills



Related posts:
* EXACTO - Super Sniper Rifle to kill pirates miles away
* World vs Somali Pirates
* How does Somalian make money