The Pirates’ Right to Regulate

Somali “pirates” seem to be in the news constantly, and they are always shown in a negative light.  They are shown as dangerous people who rob developed countries of their goods and weapons and threaten them with death and torture.  Before reading the articles for class, I assumed that all Somali “pirates” were this dangerous and needed to be controlled.  However, after reading the article by Mohammed Abshir Waldo, I see the two sides of the Somali “pirate” argument and am frankly more inclined to support the Somalis.  This is not to say that I support all of their various forms of piracy; I think there is a huge differentiation between those pirates who truly do steal to gain money and those who are just trying to protect their people’s natural oceanic resources, and I support those who are just trying to protect their oceans from overfishing and illegal dumping of waste.  Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated (IUU) fishing fleets from many developed countries and emerging economies (the European Union, China, and India) constantly invade the ocean waters off of Somalia’s coast and exploit Somalia’s resources in an incredibly invasive and unsustainable manner.  According to Waldo, “Somali fishermen in various regions of the country also complained to the international community about the illegal foreign fishing, stealing the livelihoods of poor fishermen, waste dumping and other ecological disasters, including the indiscriminate use of all prohibited methods of fishing: drift nets, under water explosives, killing all ‘endangered species’ like sea-turtles, orca, sharks, baby whales, etc. as well as destroying reef, biomass and vital fish habitats in the sea”.  To me, this behavior is atrocious and is yet another example of the global North exploiting the global South because they can.  The global North is treating Somalia’s waters as if they were part of the global commons because this unsustainable and illegal form of fishing is cheaper.  In reality, they should be respecting Somalia’s sovereignty like they would any other developed country. 

I believe it is incredibly important to differentiate between the real Somali pirates and those “pirates” who are really acting in the interests of the Somali people and the environment to conserve the ocean and its biodiversity for future use and protect what little resources they have for local fishermen to make a living and take care of their families.  The media and the global North need to do a much better job recognizing that distinction between the real Somali pirates and the protectors of Somalia’s resources.  Instead of exploiting the Somali coast with IUUs, the global North should be aiding Somalia in getting more resources and funding to manage their ocean ecosystems in a sustainable manner to benefit the country, future generations around the world, and to protect the fragile ocean ecosystem.  It is unfortunate that Somalia must resort to this type of violence just to protect their waters, but I do not think that it is entirely their fault that they must act this way.  They do not have the same resources as the global North to put fishing moratoriums in place or patrol the waters in a more peaceful and authoritative manner so that they can maintain their ocean resources and prevent heavy IUU activity.  The global North should be helping them create regimes to regulate their waters on a national and an international level, like a real coast guard, to even the playing field and allow Somali fishermen to survive.  Somalia has a right to regulate their waters just like any other country.