Somalia: September 1, 2005

Archives

Somali pirates are holding three Taiwanese fishing boats, and 48 crewman, for ransom in the southern port of  Kismayo. The pirates are demanding $500,000 for each boat. The boats were seized on August 15th, but word of the incident took over two weeks to become public. Since there is no government to issue licenses for foreign fishing boats, most of the fishing off the Somali coast is illegal. Foreign fishing boats are believed to haul in about $300 million worth of fish a year off the coast. The pirates have been increasingly bold in going after the fishing boats. In the last six months, there have been at least fifteen incidents of piracy (ships seized, or serious attempts made.)

X

ad

On July 24th we will have been at it for 26 years.

But we need your help to keep going! The summer months are our lowest revenue months. And we need your support.

Each month we count on your contributions. You can support us in the following ways:

  1. Make sure you spread the word about us. Two ways to do that are to like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
  2. Subscribe to our daily newsletter. We’ll send the news to your email box, and you don’t have to come to the site unless you want to read columns or see photos.
  3. You can contribute to the health of StrategyPage.
Subscribe   Contribute   Close