Ecoterra Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor. Part XXIII – MV SALDANHA Released

The release of MV SALDANHA and other piracy related news, viewpoints and approaches are to be found in the 23rd Ecoterra Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor press release that I herewith publish integrally.

Ecoterra Intl. – SMCM (Somali Marine & Coastal Monitor). Part XXIII

Ecoterra International – Updates, Statements & Clearinghouse Citations

A Voice from the Truth- & Justice-Seekers, who sit between all chairs, because they are not part of organized white-collar or no-collar-crime in Somalia or overseas, and who neither benefit from global naval militarization, from the illegal fishing and dumping in Somali waters or the piracy of merchant vessels, nor from the booming insurance business or the exorbitant ransom-, risk-management- or security industry, while neither the protection of the sea, the development of fishing communities or the humanitarian assistance to abducted seafarers and their families is receiving the required adequate attention, care and funding.

2009-04-25 16h02:29 UTC

EA Illegal Fishing and Dumping Hotline: +254-714-747090 (confidentiality guaranteed) - email: somalia@ecoterra.net

EA Seafarers Assistance Programme Emergency Helpline: SMS to +254-738-497979 or call +254-733-633-733

"The pirates must not be allowed to destroy our dream!"

Cpt. Florent Lemaçon - F/Y Tanit - killed by attack of French commandos - 10. April 2009

Non A La Guerre - Yes To Peace

(Inscription on the sail of F/Y TANIT shot down on day one of the French assault)

None of the various, local or foreign pirate outfits we like to add -

Clearing-house

Breaking:

Greek owned but Marshall Island flagged MV SALDHANA and her 22 men unharmed crew have been released against a ransom payment today. For 19 Filipino sailors, 1 Ukrainian, 1 Indian and another sailor the nightmare is over. The bulker owned by CARDIFF MARINE INC of Athens Greece was carrying coal from Newcastle in Australia, when it was captured on 22. February 2009 en route to Slovenia.

News from sea-jackings, abductions or newly attacked ships

Navies have apparently still not stopped murder ship MT AGIA BARBARA: still at large !

Crew Wanted for Murder

The position and route of the vessel with a crew of 6 Syrians and 6 Indians - wanted for murder in Mogadishu harbour - as well as at least one Somali business-agent on board are now roughly known. The small tanker with the IMO number 7616004 and call sign HO4050 flies a Panama flag (possibly now changed). Registered ship owner and manager is MEADOWLARK SHIPPING & TRADING CO. of Piraeus in Greece and the tanker is operated from an office in the UAE. Please report any sighting.

Meanwhile MEADOWLARK SHIPPING & TRADING CO. claims that it is no longer the owner of the vessel. In an unspecified e-mail an unidentified sender claimed that MEADOWLARK SHIPPING & TRADING CO. is incorrectly registered as owner in the shipping register and that the MT AGIA BARBARA was sold to new owners and would be managed by new managers since September 2008.

The sender further stated that the current owners are WORLD CHAMPION MARINE (the Buyer) not MEADOWLARK SHIPPING & TRADING CO. (the Seller). WORLD CHAMPION MARINE, however, could so far not be traced.

Unconfirmed reports warn that the vessel if not stopped immediately could reach Eritrea or Sudan and the crew disappear from there. The Somali Government has officially requested all navies and coastal authorities to immediately impound the vessel and to arrest the crew. Vessel picture: http://www.shipspotting.com/modules/myalbum/photo.php?lid=70209

With the latest captures and releases now still at least 17 foreign vessels (18 with an unnamed sole Barge which drifted ashore, 19 with JAIKUR I who with its last 5 members of the original crew are still held in Mogadishu harbour) with a total of not less than 288 crew members accounted for (of which 84 are confirmed to be Filipinos (plus maybe 16 of newly captured MV PATRIOT) are held in Somali waters and are monitored on our actual case-list, while several other cases of ships, which were observed off the coast of Somalia and have been reported or had reportedly disappeared without trace or information, are still being followed. Over 134 incidences (including attempted attacks, averted attacks and successful sea-jackings) have been recorded for 2008 with 49 fully documented, factual sea-jacking cases (for Somalia, incl. presently held ones) and the mistaken sinking of one vessel by a naval force. For 2009 the account stands at 69 averted or abandoned attacks and 31 sea-jackings on the Somali/Yemeni pirate side as well as at least two wrongful attacks (incl. friendly fire) on the side of the naval forces. Mystery pirate mother-vessels Athena/Arena and Burum Ocean as well as not fully documented cases of absconded vessels are not listed in the sea-jack count until clarification. Several other vessels with unclear fate (also not in the actual count), who were reported missing over the last ten years in this area, are still kept on our watch-list, though in some cases it is presumed that they sunk due to bad weather or being unfit to sail. In the last four years, 22 missing ships have been traced back with different names, flags and superstructures.

Anti-piracy measures

Returning from Nairobi in Kenya, the newly elected leader of Somalia's self-governing Puntland regional authority has declared a new campaign to fight piracy in the region, using public support and government institutions, local radio stations report. Dr. Abdirahman Mohamed "Farole", the president of Puntland State, spoke after Friday prayers at Sahaba Mosque in Garowe, the region's administrative capital. "We [government] wish to inform the public that we have began a direct campaign against pirate gangs and we urge everyone not to defend them [pirates]", President Farole said. He explained the Somali culture of "defending criminals for clan reasons" but warned strongly against such practice, saying that the pirates are "corrupting the culture" and pose a security threat to Puntland. "We learned on our trip to Nairobi [Kenya] that the international community is planning attacks on land and this is a big problem for Puntland", the President noted. President Farole stated that the government has begun an active campaign against the pirates starting today. He commented that the Puntland administration met with members of the local religious community and gained support for the government's two-tier action plan to raid pirates on land and to warn the public through radio and mosque messages.

Mosque campaign

All mosques in Garowe focused Friday's weekly sermon on the negative impact of piracy on the local community. The preacher at Garowe's Sahaba Mosque spoke both in Somali and Arabic languages, citing Islamic sources that explicitly prohibit "criminal acts like piracy". "All forms of roadblocks are haram [prohibited] in Islam. Our religion instructs us to give safe passage to all travelers, by sea or by land", the preacher told hundreds of congregants. He spoke in detail about the many social problems pirates have brought to Puntland, namely increase in the sale and consumption of alcohol, the use of the narcotic drug khat and other un-Islamic acts such as adultery and fornication. The preacher offered three stories as typical examples of pirates' negative social impact on local communities. In one example, he strongly warned against the spread of HIV/AIDS in the community as "prostitutes from everywhere" have been drawn to Puntland by the pirates' ransom money.

Raids

On Friday, Puntland security forces raided two houses in Garowe and confiscated illegal products including weapons and hundreds of alcoholic beverages. Mr. Abdi Hersi "Qarjab", the governor of Nugal region where Garowe is located, addressed reporters at the Garowe central police station where the confiscated items were presented to reporters. He described the items as: four AK-47 assault rifles, 327 alcohol bottles, five mobile phones and a box of money, including 15million Somali Shillings and $475 U.S. dollars. Four suspects were detained during the police campaign, which security officials described as part of a comprehensive anti-piracy effort with different phases. The security campaign was widely welcomed by local residents, some of whom were seen cheering the police officers as they dragged away suspects and shut down bases where pirates often bought alcohol and other illegal products.

Illegal fishing and dumping

How pirate fishers defy international laws

GREENPEACE

There are international laws to prevent illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) or pirate fishing. Unfortunately pirate fishers are able to get around these laws. The principle legislation governing the high seas is the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).

What is the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea?

The convention was negotiated from 1973 to 1982 and became legally binding in 1994. It is an attempt by the international community to regulate our use of the ocean and maintain its resources. This includes conservation and management of living marine resources and protection of the marine environment.

Unfortunately, the convention offers little guidance on migratory and straddling stocks, such as tuna, and simply calls for vague cooperation with international organisations. It contains three concepts which have become three loopholes for pirate fishers:

1) the authority of flag states;

2) the freedom of the high seas;

3) non-signatory exemptions (states are only bound by treaties to which they consent).

These loopholes allow vessels to fish anytime, anywhere (subject only to treaty obligations and coastal states' rights), answerable only to regulations of the flag state to which they are registered.

The loopholes have allowed distant water fishers to cover all corners of the globe. As a result of their over-fishing more than 71 per cent of world fish stocks are now fully exploited, overexploited, depleted or recovering from depletion.

Three loopholes that allow pirate fishing

1) Flag state failures

While the UN Law of the Sea largely relies on flag states to enforce laws and regulate fishing, its definition of flag state obligations is limited and vague. Also, the requirements for a "genuine link" between vessels and their flag state are minimal and undefined. Unfortunately, many flag states authorise vessels to fly their flags and then fail, or do not try, to implement their international obligations.

Pirate fishing companies take advantage of the flag state authority and operate their vessels under flags of non-compliance that fall roughly into two categories:

- Rogue states which support their pirate operations despite often being signatories to regional fishing management organisations (RFMOs);

- Flag states with open registries which are not usually members of RFMOs and therefore are not bound by their provisions and refuse to implement their flag state obligations.

States offering flags of convenience operate on the margins. As they are usually not party to fisheries management organisations or agreements such as the FAO Compliance Agreement or UN Fish Stocks Agreement, they are beyond the reach of international law. They are an external threat to the management of fisheries.
Rogue states, on the other hand, are both an external and internal threat. As they are sometimes actively involved on regulatory bodies, they may undermine or sabotage efforts to control pirate fishing or over-fishing. Rogue states such as Russia make little attempt to enforce regulations and support pirate fishers by authorizing suspect catch documentation (allowing pirates to launder their catch).

Flags of convenience

Flags of convenience allow a vessel to fish virtually anywhere on the high seas with impunity. Pirates buy flags of convenience from "open registries" that have few or no limitations on accepting foreign vessels and make little pretence of any genuine link to the vessel. These registries offer a loophole around many regulations.

Initially, companies and individuals took advantage of flags of convenience to evade tax and/or reduce safety requirements, tariffs, labour requirements and other shipping regulations. However, as regional fisheries management organisations developed, unscrupulous fishing vessel owners began to re-flag under flags of convenience to avoid fishing regulations or limitations on catch.
Because these flag states do not usually belong to regional fisheries management organisations, they are not bound by their decisions and regulations. Therefore, they allow pirates flying their flags to continue their destructive activities.

Flags for sale

Find out how to obtain a flag of convenience is as easy and quick as a few taps on the keyboard. Any notion of genuine link is cynically put aside for a few dollars and registration is sometimes provided within 24 hours.

2) Freedom of the high seas

The Law of the Sea's second loophole, the freedom of the high seas, allows open access to fisheries, creating a "tragedy of the commons". Unregulated use of a common resource invariably leads to overexploitation and mutual loss.
The tragedy of the commons occurs as individuals try to maximize their gain from a common resource. They increase their exploitation of the common, believing that subsequent gain will go wholly to them, while any loss caused by overexploitation of the common will be shared among all users.

If individual fishers limit their catch to a sustainable level, they believe this saving will only benefit a more aggressive fisher. They feel that, acting alone, they are powerless to halt the destruction of the fishery. This creates an incentive for each individual to increase their exploitation without limit, from a resource that is limited. IUU fishers subscribe to this view and destroy the resource while legal fishers obey the rules.

3) Non-signatory exemptions

The third key loophole is that states are only bound by treaties to which they have consented. This limits the sanctions available to concerned states and means that RFMOs "cannot bind non-signatories, and signatory states are bound to respect flag State rights under the 1982 Convention no matter how disreputable their activities may be".

Repairing the loopholes: Further agreements

Since the Law of the Sea came into force, there have been efforts to tighten up flag state controls and improve management of migratory stocks and the high seas. This led to the negotiation of three instruments with special relevance to pirate fishing in the Pacific:

- FAO Compliance Agreement;

- United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement;

- International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IPOA-IUU).

These agreements allow regulators to build on the Law of the Sea and fence out IUU fishers. They repair many of the loopholes in the Law of the Sea and increase the scope and detail of oceans governance. However, there are problems.

FAO Compliance Agreement

The Compliance Agreement was adopted by the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) and came into force on 24 April 2003ii. A binding agreement, it tackles the responsibilities of flag states, requiring parties to ensure that their flagged vessels do not undermine the effectiveness of international conservation and management measures and do not fish on the high seas unless expressly authorised to do so.

Unfortunately, the agreement has not been widely accepted and is limited to those states which have consented to it, that is, states that already act within existing laws. Flag states of non-compliance have been predictably slow to ratify.

United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement

The United Nations Fish Stocks Agreement (UNFSA) came into force on 11 December 2001iii and imposes further obligations on flag states (albeit only those which consent). UNFSA is a binding agreement which lays down important provisions. It requires parties to ensure their vessels comply with sub-regional and regional conservation and management measures and do not engage in any activity which undermines the effectiveness of such measures.

UNFSA also introduces important new measures:

- It obligates parties to abide by the regulations of all regional fisheries management organisations (RFMOs), whether they are signatories to the organisations or not. Parties cannot authorise their vessels to fish in RFMO waters unless they are a member of that RFMO and ensure their vessels abide by all regulations.

- It allows boarding and inspection on the high seas within a RFMO's boundary by vessels flagged to other parties to UNFSA and including inspectors from parties to the relevant RFMO.

"This is as close as international law gets to curbing the otherwise sacrosanct rights of flag states and, at least in this respect, starts to place illegal fishing on a par with such obnoxious activities as slavery and piracy".

Stopping the High Seas Robbers, S Upton and V Vitalis

As with the Compliance Agreement, this impressive new agreement only applies to signatories. Predictably, flag of non-compliance are not rushing to ratify.

The International Plan of Action to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unregulated and Unreported Fishing (IPOA-IUU)

The final relevant instrument is the non-binding IPOA-IUU which was endorsed by the FAO Council on 23 June 2001v. The IPOA-IUU recommends good practice and calls upon states to adopt national plans of action to combat IUU fishing.

It describes highly detailed measures to halt IUU fishing, including improved control of nationals to ensure they do not engage in IUU fishing, tougher requirements for vessel authorisations and registers, port state controls to restrict IUU landings, and market-related measures to prevent IUU catch from being traded or imported.

The IPOA-IUU may become binding nationally, through legislation, or regionally by an RFMO Paragraph 25 of the IPOA-IUU calls for the adoption of national plans of action by mid-2004.

In June, the FAO convened a meeting at its Rome headquarters to assess progress towards implementation of the IPOA on IUU fishing and the IPOA on overcapacity of fishing vessels. According to FAO reports at the meeting, IUU fishing is worsening and there are still too many fishing vessels in a large number of fisheries, with negative consequences for commercial fish stocks.

Summary

Despite these three treaties, IUU fishing continues to rise in some regions. The failure of recent efforts to tackle IUU fishing reveals that the problem lies with the Law of the Sea (and the associated legal norms in which it operates) and the inability of multilateral processes to sign up all relevant parties and effectively implement regulations. The three key weaknesses of international law stop the three subsequent agreements from halting IUU fishing.

French Defence Minister Hervé Morin revealed in an exclusive interview with Euronews, that the EUNAVOR mission Atalanta with eight warships and numerous aircraft was the result of a Franco-Spanish initiative, which is behind this huge operation of the European Union. The fact that Spain and France also have the largest interest in the multimillion business of Indian Ocean fisheries, European taxpayers start to ask questions what the operation is actually for: Uniting the European Navies and forces, protecting the fishing fleets (which operate largely illegally) or showing the US-American "friends" in NATO that Europe can stand on her own feet and walk the talk - even on water.

No real peace in sight yet

Eight people died in the Somali capital Mogadishu, when mortars were fired at the parliament on Saturday, police said. The missiles failed to hit the building and exploded in the surrounding residential area. Somali police said the shells fell to the side, killing one policeman and a witness said four children were also killed. One woman died in the attack. No members of parliament were hurt and a Somali lawmaker, Mohamed Ali Dhere, said they left the building minutes before the mortars were fired. The attack came a day after the Islamist leader Sheikh Hassan Dahir Aweys ruled out talks with the government unless African Union troops withdraw from the country. There are currently 4,300 troops from Uganda and Burundi after Ethiopian troops pulled out last January. "They have nothing to do here", he said, "we see them as a barrier to peace in our this country".

'Somalia Tragedy Rooted in Depletion of Natural Resources'
By Jaya Ramachandran

Syracuse, Italy (IDN) The Somalia tragedy – highlighted by the hijacking of ships in the Gulf of Aden – is rooted in depletion of the natural resources of an eastern African country that has been torn by civil strife since 1991.

This view has been expressed by none less than a senior official of the Global Mechanism (GM), which is a subsidiary body of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), with the mandate of mobilizing financial resources to combat land degradation and promoting sustainable land management.

As G8 Environment Ministers began their three-day meetings April 22 in Syracuse on the themes of climate change and protection of biodiversity in the run-up to the major industrial nations' summit meet for the G8 summit in on La Maddalena, the GM's managing director Christian Mersmann said: "The origins of the Somali disaster are many and complex, but one root cause is stress on land, water and the environment".

"Somalia stands as a cautionary tale of the need for sustainable management of natural resources, for a country's prosperity and development," he added.
Since the 1960s, Somali governments have pushed for large-scale, mechanized agriculture, diminishing the availability of the most fertile terrain to the subsistence farmers and nomadic herders who were its traditional users.

Subsequently, pastoralists were forced to compete with farmers, and with each other, for access to wells and land that grew less productive the more they exploited them.

More than a decade and a half of soaring population growth have taken a further toll on the land, leaving Somalia increasingly vulnerable to natural disasters: the recent catastrophic harvest and the current drought that have made competition for resources all the more fierce.

"But Somalia is hardly unique as a case of environmentally based conflict and forced migration", Mersmann said.

Across much of Africa in recent years, land degradation has displaced millions. These population movements have crushed fragile ecosystems. Dispossessed immigrants are flowing into already poor regions and countries, in some cases producing explosive social reactions.

"Exhaustion of land capital can make the difference between peace and war. While such problems are especially acute in Africa, clashes over scarce land or water are a global phenomenon, occurring as far away as Mexico and the Philippines", the GM's managing director said.

Measures such as reforestation and water conservation, as part of national programmes for sustainable land management can promote economic progress and soften the impact of even global trends like climate change.

That is why the leaders of developing nations must make sustainability a top-priority goal of their spending and legislative programmes, he said.

"Individual nations must take the lead using their specific approaches. Now it falls to the people who know the local environment best to allocate the resources for its sustenance and long-term development", Mersmann said.

This view was echoed recently by UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro, though she went a step ahead: "Undoubtedly, the responsibility to achieve the Millennium Development Goals rests with African Governments. But most African countries have done their part. They have put their macroeconomic houses in order. They have designed not one but two generations of Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers. The world needs to match these efforts with increased aid and better technical assistance".

One such example is Ethiopia, in the Horn of Africa, just a few miles across the Somali border.

Ethiopia has recently launched its investment framework to promote sustainable land management, in a joint effort with partner countries and donors. The framework has roused donor interest to invest over the next 15 years: in fact, the finance for the first three years is almost fully committed.

Mersemann said the GM was a driver of the resource mobilization process and will now help the country explore new funding opportunities arising from non-traditional sectors, such as climate change, civil society and trade.

Several countries in different regions of the world are receiving GM support in developing fully-fledged financing strategies for sustainable land management that prepare the ground for the development of integrated investment frameworks, similar to Ethiopia's experience. These processes are successful because they are led by governments that can determine how best to utilize their resources according to their national priorities.

With this in view, Kanayo Nwanze, the new president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has urged the developing countries to first put their own house in order.

"National governments have economic, political and social problems, but they must show very clearly to the international community that they want to help their farmers to produce more and have access to local markets, so they can become economically viable", the IFAD president said.

Countries cannot address their environmental problems in a systematic way without good governance. Yet as the case of Somalia makes clear, an indispensable element of good governance is farsighted protection of the environment and of those whose livelihoods depend on it, the GM's managing director said.

Press Contacts:

ECOP-marine
East-Africa
+254-714-747090
marine[at]ecop.info
www.ecop.info

ECOTERRA Intl.
Nairobi Node
africanode[at]ecoterra.net
+254-733-633-733

EA Seafarers Assistance Programme
SAP Media Officers
+254-722-613858
+254-733-385868
sap[at]ecoterra.net

End of Ecoterra Press Release

Note
Picture: MV SALDHANA