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Thursday, January 20, 2011

In Somalia Pirates Are Heroes

While the rest of the world is concerned about the growing piracy problem off the coast of Somalia and the Gulf of Aden, some Somali MPs see the pirates as heroes. Why is this so? The pirates are seen as keeping away foreign trawlers who are accused of over-fishing off the coast of Somalia. Over-fishing depletes the fish in the area and reduces the incomes of the fishermen in the area. Because foreign trawlers are scared of the priates, the MPs reason, they don't dare fish in Somalia's waters. This lets the fish to multiply, giving opportunity of native fishermen to earn some income. This may well be a rationalization of the lucrativeness of piracy, but the reasoning is impressive.

3 comments:

NB said...

Not only that, but there is a history of illegal toxic waste dumping off the coast of Somalia as well.

http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2008/10/2008109174223218644.html

DT said...

This is interesting because its almost as if their illegal activities are helping to preserve their natural resources. One of the reasons for piracy is the lack of income, so maybe if there is more fishing there will be more income and less piracy.

BR said...

This is interesting, but what will happen to the people of Somalia once those committing the crime of Piracy are caught?