Piracy threatens fishermen in Yemen

ADEN, Yemen | Deeply tanned teenage boys dragged four yellowfin tuna off the small fishing boat and ran up the beach. The boys were strong, but the fish were fat and at least three feet long. They slapped the fish down in the concrete and tile market. It was dinner time, and hungry shoppers were looking to buy.

Anwar Abdulkader Aisa, who fishes for tuna and kingfish in his 23-foot boat, said he still makes a living in the Gulf of Aden, but his income has been cut in half. One third of the piracy in the world takes place in the gulf, a roughly 200-mile wide strip of water that separates Yemen from Somalia.

About a year ago, international forces moved into the area to fight a rising threat from Somali pirates. Led by the European Union, the armada relies on naval support from NATO and more than 25 countries, including the United States, China, Russia and India. But despite the display of military might, piracy in the area doubled in 2009, according to the International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

One of the world’s busiest sea lanes, more than 25,000 merchant ships pass through the Gulf of Aden every year. Between January and September this year, there were 100 attempted and actual pirate attacks. There were half as many during the same period last year. In 2005, there were eight.

Traditional fishermen, who catch most of Yemen’s fish exports, are caught in the middle. “[The pirates] will kill you for a small thing like a boat engine,” Mr. Aisa said. “The international forces are also a threat.”

Standing on a small beach on a muggy night in November, he said aircraft from all over the world harass fishermen in Yemeni-flagged traditional fishing boats. Almost every day they hover over his boat, he said. Usually they move on after they are convinced the boat is for fishing. About seven of his colleagues have been arrested.

Because the international operations are massive, Mr. Aisa thinks the pirates could have been crushed long ago. “It’s a great force,” he said. “It could occupy the whole world.”

But Somali officials say that the international forces are not trying to stop piracy; instead they are protecting their own illegal fishing boats. They say widespread illegal fishing in Somali waters has forced fishermen to turn to piracy to make a living. And now, the international community is using pirates as an excuse to send more fishing boats.

“If all the piracy was gone, this coalition would continue,” said Hussein Hagi Ahmed, the Somali consul in Aden. He also said 90 percent of the fish coming out of Somali waters, famous for stores of tuna, snapper and shark, are taken illegally.

Naval forces sent to fight piracy are often intended to protect their fishing boats, not stop the pirates, he said. Somali people, suffering from war, drought and crushing poverty, are increasingly sympathetic to the pirates.

“People believe the coalition came to protect illegal fisheries,” Mr. Ahmed said. “Not to fight pirates.”

But IMB officials say Somali pirates have stepped up their operations in the Gulf of Aden because they are increasingly capable of hijacking boats far from their shores, and the trade route through the gulf that connects Europe and Asia hosts lucrative prey.

“This basically makes it very attractive to pirates who can pick and choose vessels,” said Cyrus Mody, manager of the IMB.

And although illegal fishing and the dumping of toxic waste in Somali waters may have inspired some fishermen to turn to piracy, it is now big business, he added. “They have come a long way from trying to protect their waters from illegal fishing,” he said.

According to Mr. Mody, instability in Somalia - which hasn’t had a functional government since civil war broke out in 1991 - is the primary reason for the growing presence of piracy in the Gulf of Aden. The chaos in Somalia, he said, is “giving pirates a free hand to do what they want.”

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