Kenya fishermen see upside to pirates: more fish

[cory777]

Source: Associated Press

By JASON STRAZIUSO Associated Press Writer © 2010 The Associated Press
Jan. 10, 2010, 11:32PM

MALINDI, Kenya — People here have one thing to thank Somali pirates for: Better fishing.

In past years, illegal commercial trawlers parked off Somalia's coast and scooped up the ocean's contents. Now, fishermen on the northern coast of neighboring Kenya say, the trawlers are not coming because of pirates.

"There is a lot of fish now, there is plenty of fish. There is more fish than people can actually use because the international fishermen have been scared away by the pirates," said Athman Seif, the director of the Malindi Marine Association.

On one early morning, as the sun bathed their wooden dhow in a pale yellow, four fishermen jumped out of their rickety 15-foot boat, grabbed a hand-woven straw basket and waded ashore. The basket held the bounty: 175 pounds (80 kilograms) of sailfish, barracuda and red snapper, the haul from a 12-hour night on the ocean. Each fisherman stood to make $12, enough in this town to be considered a decent night's work.

Fishermen and sportsmen say they've been catching more fish than ever. Howard Lawrence-Brown, who owns Kenya Deep Sea Fishing, said fishing stocks over the last year have been up "enormously — across all species."

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/6808739.html

[denbot]

1. The silver lining.

Good on them.

[wordpix]

18. still, 80 kg for an entire night's worth isn't much of a catch

I was on a salmon gill net boat in '79 in AK---that one boat caught probably tons of salmon in 8 hr.

We could use some pirates in AK, too, come to think of it.

[Kurt Remarque]

2. i need a pirate on my local trout stream

[yowzayowzayowza]

3. Ramen.

His noodly appendages work in mysterious ways.

[tavalon]

6. Yay! A new way to celebrate him.....

Ramen!

[carla]

11. RAMEN!!!

RAMEN! RAMEN! All of you-a! All of you-a! All of you-a!!! Ramen!
The miracle of the fish and the poachers!!!RAMEN!

[DeSwiss]

4. K&ARRRGGGHHHHHH.....

[Chulanowa]

5. Makes you wonder

If we could declare even as much as a one year moratorium on commercial fishing in, say, the north atlantic or gulf of mexico and have it followed... Perhaps stocks would rocket back to a productive level in a quick time? Fish make LOTS of eggs, after all.

I woulfn't hold my breath, but it definitely looks like it would be worth a try.

[erehwon2]

8. It sure does

I wrote about this some years ago, was completely ignored, so hey, what's the harm in doing it again?

A moratorium would do a world of good, and a one-year breather in well defined areas of the Gulf and the North Atlantic would be an amazing accomplishment. As it stands, there are national quotas that are bitterly disputed only to be routinely circumvented. Net regulations are a joke, undersized critters are either "bycatch", mulched for catfood, or sent frozen to unregulated markets. Every year we see the sustainability curve inch farther and farther below zero, and act as if there's nothing we can do about it.

Well, there's plenty that could be done, and you don't even need the Somali pirates to do it. First and foremost, the commercial fishing folks need to take up the banner. If they can't be convinced that a brief moratorium is in their own best interest now, they sure as hell will be convinced when the only catch left is jellyfish and algae. Make the case that good things will come to those who wait. The ROI would be enormous.

They'd need the support of government. The off-time should be subsidized for upgrading the fleets, a lot of those boats would run a lot cleaner with a little time in drydock, not to mention fresh paint, cables, etc., that the crews can finally get around to. The fleets can also be hired to observe and report compliance, not to mention monitoring the stocks. That there's a win-win.

Best of all, they could be hired to start cleaning up all that plastic shit swirling around the Pacific, and could report plastic dumpers on the spot. If the honest commercial fishing folks, and they do exist, would truly get on board, they'd be a great help in reporting drift-netters and shark-finners the world over, and wouldn't that be fun? In my moratorium dreams, these boats (they don't deserve the term "ship") would be stopped, their crews deposited safely on shore, and the boats forever scuttled.

I'd like to see a worldwide moratorium for two years - one to breed, one to feed.

Oh well. I want single-payer healthcare, too.

A guy's gotta dream.

[rasputin1952]

9. Your post makes a lot of sense and is "doable"...

I like the idea where fihermen could clean up the plastic...that would be a damn good source of income, and help to save a part of the ocean as well!...:woohoo:

[carla]

12. You are a died in the wool

GENIUS! I am solidly convinced of the possibility of your plan! Count me in as a vocal!!! I am taking up your banner and the pirate story will be THE anecdote. Thank you for posting this reasonable,no, INVALUABLE strategy. Maybe one day I can return to eating ocean fish again. Love my tuna, but it just ain't right...

[wordpix]

13. +1000

[wordpix]

15. we also need national marine park protection zones worldwide for the long run

:applause:

[MyUncle]

17. So, who feeds the fishermen?

1 year off, 2 years? What do you expect people to eat? How do you expect to subsidize these hard working American farmers of the sea. If you think the rest of the world's fleet take a year off, a week off just because we do, you are truly naive. Good intentioned but really, really naive.

The only thing that would happen would be our domestic industry would totally collapse, a way of life lost forever and a total loss of control over our ocean resources.

Wake up.

[scarletwoman]

19. Fat lot of good those "ocean resources" will do them when they're all fished out.

Your "farmers of the sea" could stand to learn a bit from the farmers of land -- they know about letting plots go fallow in order to build up fertility for future planting.

As the post above proposes, pay them for cleaning up the trash, and for policing against giant ocean trawler violaters.

It's THEIR future livelihoods at stake if the fishing stocks collapse.

[boppers]

7. "more fish than people can actually use "

Lovely.

[lunatica]

10. Unintended consequences that people should pay attention to

The funny thing is that the Somali people can start being fishermen again thereby ending the need to become pirates. It's like catch 22. If they stop being pirates the gigantic international trawlers will return

[wordpix]

14. did I read somewhere they started the whole pirate gig to protect their fish stocks

in the first place?

[lunatica]

16. Their economy was in a shambles and they have no effective government

I believe they have warlords running the place and drug use is out of control, but this does look like an alternative has been created. Will the world pay attention though.. We haven't seen much evidence of that in this country. Especially under Bush.