Friday, February 12, 2010

So Much For The Argument That Somali Pirates Protect The Fishing Grounds Off Their Coast

Scourge of the Indian Ocean (Image: Mohamed Dahir/AFP/Getty Images)

Somali Pirates Hold Science To Ransom -- New Scientist

SOMALI pirates terrorising the Indian Ocean are a hazard to more than shipping and tourists. They are also killing important scientific research and may be indirectly damaging the ocean's ecosystem.

Fishing boats in the Indian Ocean routinely carry scientists who gather data about fish stocks and threatened species while ensuring that boats comply with fishing rules. The piracy threat has put a stop to that. "We can't monitor and we can't do experiments because of the pirates," says Laurent Dagorn of France's Research Institute for Development (IRD).

Read more ....

My Comment: For the past two years I have been reading stories about how many of the Somali pirates are actually fishermen who were driven to piracy for a living .... while this is probably true it is also true that these pirates are now exacerbating a terrible problem in the industry that they are claiming they are saving.

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