Somalia loses anywhere between US$100 million and US$450 million a year to illegal fishing carried out by foreign vessels, a report indicates.
According to African Development Solutions (Adeso) a charity and development agency with its headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya, the illegal fishing activities have cost the Somali government revenue including landing fees, licenses, taxes and other fees paid by legal fishing companies. Adeso also says the activities have denied Somalis jobs in fishing and post-harvest fishing process.
‘Unregulated illegal fishing also causes overfishing, harming the marine environment and destroying local fishing communities,’ a statement from Adeso indicates.
As a result the agency will, in conjunction with the Rift Valley Forum, hold a panel discussion in Nairobi on January 20 to deliberate on ‘the effects of illegal and unregulated fishing in Somalia and the ways in which they can be addressed’.
At the meeting to be moderated by Rashid Abdi of the International Crisis Group (ICG), Adeso will also launch its report dubbed ‘Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing in the Territorial Waters of Somalia’ and also screen a short film, the ‘Illegal and Unregulated Fishing of the Coast of Somalia’.
Other panelists include Adeso’s Abdi Mohamed Dahir, Kifle Hagos of the University of Rhode Island, researcher Bashir Hussein and Pauline Gibourdel of the Delegation of the European Union to Somalia.
