Waste and hazardous materials dumping site:
“A United Nations’ report released this week says nuclear and hazardous wastes dumped on Somalia’s shores had been scattered by the recent Asian tsunami and are now infecting Somalis in coastal areas.
A spokesman for the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), Nick Nuttall, told VOA that for the past 15 years or so, European companies and others have used Somalia as a dumping ground for a wide array of nuclear and hazardous wastes.
“There’s uranium radioactive waste, there’s leads, there’s heavy metals like cadmium and mercury, there’s industrial wastes, and there’s hospital wastes, chemical wastes, you name it he said.“ link (2009)
The real pirates, the EcoMafia:
“vessels were allegedly sent to Somalia and other developing countries with toxic waste, including radioactive waste cargoes, which were either sunk with the ship or buried on land.
The introduction of more rigorous environmental legislation in the 1980s made illegal waste dumping a lucrative business for organized crime groups in Italy.[1] The phenomenon of widespread environmental crime perpetrated by criminal syndicates like the Camorra and ‘Ndrangheta has given rise to the term ”ecomafia“.[2]“ link (sources 2007-2009)
Illegal fishing:
“One of the key underlying economic reasons of piracy in Somalia is the depletion of seafood resources through illegal fishing by foreign companies.
The pirates who captured the UAE oil tanker last month claimed to be fishermen whose equipment was destroyed by illegal fishing vessels. A local official for a Puntland anti-piracy agency confirmed that the attack is linked to illegal fishing along the Somali coast, a problem that has existed for a while.
While the issue was temporarily solved amid the implementation of aid programs, which replenished Somali fisheries, the depletion of Somalia’s seafood stock had pushed workers who depended on fishing for a livelihood toward piracy.
In 2009, a Time magazine article highlighted the transformation of Somali waters into a “free-for-all” fishing site where international fleets illegally collected more than $300 million worth of seafood. Foreign vessels have been increasingly present in Somali waters, with seafood captures doubling or even tripling those of Somali fishermen (Figure 2).“ link (2017)
