Thursday, November 20, 2008

Yo Ho Ho.

Pirates; International menace or misunderstood community activists? It's a tough call so let's look the experts to resolve this age old question:

Another sum is less frequently mentioned: the estimated $300m of fish poached in Somali waters annually by trawlers hailing from nations as far away as Taiwan - or France and Spain, for that matter. Seen from this perspective, it is hardly surprising that some pirate groups see themselves as defenders of Somali fishermen, giving their groups names such as National Volunteer Coast Guard of Somalia, or Somali Marines.
Well shiver my timbers! Piracy is actually a form of fair trade activism. Quite how oil tankers are inpinging upon Somali fish stocks isn't 199% clear to me but I'm not a details person.

<via>

4 comments:

Mark Wadsworth said...

That's the enviro-loonie branch of the Somali coastguard that hijacks oil tankers.

James Higham said...

Seen from this perspective, it is hardly surprising that some pirate groups see themselves as defenders of Somali fishermen...

Yeah, right - you can really see them sailing back in and distributing the loot to the needy poor.

Ross said...

"Yeah, right - you can really see them sailing back in and distributing the loot to the needy poor."

They're halfway to being Robn Hood, they steal from the rich but haven't got to stage two.

Letters From A Tory said...

Sadly Gordon Brown isn't a 'details person' either.