Somali Pirates
Egger 2
Since Somalia’s government collapsed, there has been terror not only on the streets but also on the seas, and the fishermen that once fished along around Somalia’s coasts have lost their jobs. As Jeffery Gettleman writes in a article about Somalia’s coast; Nuclear power companies started to pay to have their nuclear waste taken to Somalia and dumped because it an easy way to get rid of nuclear waste. The waste hurt the fish population and the fishermen lost their jobs (Gettleman). Anouk Zijlma writes that without a steady source of income from fishing, the fishermen working out of Puntland Somalia have set up their own system of defending their coast and making money in the process (Zijlma). Countries have labeled the fishermen as pirates, but they do not think of themselves as such, but as defenders of their coastline. The so called Somali pirates have become increasingly harder to stop because of the pirate’s ability to cooperate in tactical teams of eight or nine while keeping in contact with their intelligence personnel in Puntland Somalia, get past international sea law, and set up operations beyond Somalia’s coastline and on to Kenya. As of now the only hope of stopping Somali pirates is to set up a stable government in their country, but that could take several years. Several people have addressed going into Puntland, Somalia and eliminating the pirates, but it’s not that easy when the pirates work off of ransoms and will kill any kidnapped person or blow up any stolen vessel if they feel threatened.
The pirates operate in organized teams of eight or nine, this helps them divide up and take on shipping vessels in two or three different teams. As Anouk Zijlma writes; the pirates work off of so called “mother” boats. These mother boats supply intelligence to the small tactical teams as to where potential ships are located on the ocean (Zijlma). The fact that the pirates have small and fast speed boats makes it very easy for them to maneuver
Since Somalia’s government collapsed, there has been terror not only on the streets but also on the seas, and the fishermen that once fished along around Somalia’s coasts have lost their jobs. As Jeffery Gettleman writes in a article about Somalia’s coast; Nuclear power companies started to pay to have their nuclear waste taken to Somalia and dumped because it an easy way to get rid of nuclear waste. The waste hurt the fish population and the fishermen lost their jobs (Gettleman). Anouk Zijlma writes that without a steady source of income from fishing, the fishermen working out of Puntland Somalia have set up their own system of defending their coast and making money in the process (Zijlma). Countries have labeled the fishermen as pirates, but they do not think of themselves as such, but as defenders of their coastline. The so called Somali pirates have become increasingly harder to stop because of the pirate’s ability to cooperate in tactical teams of eight or nine while keeping in contact with their intelligence personnel in Puntland Somalia, get past international sea law, and set up operations beyond Somalia’s coastline and on to Kenya. As of now the only hope of stopping Somali pirates is to set up a stable government in their country, but that could take several years. Several people have addressed going into Puntland, Somalia and eliminating the pirates, but it’s not that easy when the pirates work off of ransoms and will kill any kidnapped person or blow up any stolen vessel if they feel threatened.
The pirates operate in organized teams of eight or nine, this helps them divide up and take on shipping vessels in two or three different teams. As Anouk Zijlma writes; the pirates work off of so called “mother” boats. These mother boats supply intelligence to the small tactical teams as to where potential ships are located on the ocean (Zijlma). The fact that the pirates have small and fast speed boats makes it very easy for them to maneuver