5th Fleet Focus: Illegal Dumping and Fishing

One of the claims by pirates in Somalia is that they operate as the national coast guard. The claim is that Europeans and constantly dumping chemicals into the water, and they also legitimately protect the fishing off Somalia. Say what you want, but the fishing off Somalia is not trivial, a full boat can haul catches that run 50% to 150% more than fishing in other areas.

The UN envoy to Somalia is trying to sound the alarm.

The UN special envoy for Somalia on Friday sounded the alarm about rampant illegal fishing and the dumping of toxic waste off the coast of the lawless African nation.

"Because there is no (effective) government, there is so much irregular fishing from European and Asian countries," Ahmedou Ould Abdallah told reporters.

He said he had asked several international non-governmental organizations, including Global Witness, which works to break the links between natural resource exploitation, conflict, corruption, and human rights abuses worldwide, "to trace this illegal fishing, illegal dumping of waste."

There are no coast guards for failed states, and without a coast guard Somalia is an excellent example of the consequences. I guess the odds of forming a European and Asian naval coalition are slim, considering if European and Asian countries really are responsible for all the illegal fishing, stopping that would only negatively impact themselves. That of coarse is the other problem with failed states, they are easily exploited by others, thus reducing the likelyhood and number of participants in a coalition approach to security.

This also caught our eye.

Somalia's coastal waters are now considered to be among the most dangerous in the world, with more than 25 ships seized by pirates there last year despite US navy patrols, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

I'm surprised the IMB would suggest the US Navy is patrolling Somalia, because if they are it is a token presence at best. The US Navy does not take piracy seriously, and we think the IMB knows this, so this is probably a bit of 'flexible creativity' on the part of the report author, and not something the IMB would put out. If IMB really believes the US Navy is putting a foot forward in the fight against piracy, they are mistaken.

Update: EagleOne is also talking about Somalia. Bottom line, nobody cares.