Illegal fishing off Somalia nets $300m a year

01 Sep 2005 16:18 - Staff Reporter

Illegal fishing off Somalia's coast has reached proportions of about $300-million annually, a United Nations official said on Thursday in Nairobi. "It is mostly foreign vessels but we don't know who they are," said Ghanim Alnajjar, the UN's independent expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia.

Illegal fishing off Somalia’s coast has reached proportions of about $300-million annually, a United Nations official said on Thursday in Nairobi.

“It is mostly foreign vessels but we don’t know who they are,” said Ghanim Alnajjar, the UN’s independent expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia.

“Some Russians claim they have previous agreements and have paid licences, but no one can prove that”, he added.

This has led to serious environmental concerns of the depletion in the fish-rich Somali waters.

The expert also said that despite the relocation back home of the Somali government from Kenya, the human rights situation in the conflict ridden country had not improved.

Alnajjar, who had just visited several parts of the country, said there were still massive security problems and he could not go to Mogadishu as planned.

“The situation remains catastrophic,” he said.

The prospects of a planned election in Somaliland on September 29, however, were a positive sign, he said. The semi-autonomous northern region of Somaliland did not participate in the peace process.