Illegal Fishing Off Somalia Seen Spurring Piracy Revival
- Foreign vessels catching $306 million of fish annually
- Somalia urged to secure waters, promote fishing industry
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Piracy that caused havoc to international shipping off Somalia’s coast over the past decade may return if illegal foreign fishing, worth an annual $306 million, continues at its current pace, according to a new report.
Local Somali fishermen, who earn $58 million per year, are angry about fishing by vessels from nations including Iran, Yemen, Egypt and Spain, Secure Fisheries, a Colorado-based program of the One Earth Future Foundation, said in the report. Growing local resentment risks a revival of the piracy epidemic that roiled the region from about 2001 to 2012, the group said.