NAIROBI, Kenya –  Frustrated by a string  of failed hijacking attempts, Somali pirates have turned to a new business  model: providing “security” for ships illegally plundering Somalia’s fish stocks  —  the same scourge that launched the Horn of Africa’s piracy era eight years  ago.

Somali piracy was recently a fearsome trend that saw dozens of ships and  hundreds of hostages taken yearly, but the success rate of the maritime  hijackers has fallen dramatically over the last year thanks to increased  security on ships and more effective international naval patrols.

Somali pirate gangs in search of new revenue are now providing armed protection for ships illegally fishing Somali waters. Erstwhile pirates are also trafficking in arms, drugs and humans, according to a report published this month by the U.N. Monitoring Group on Somalia and Eritrea.

The security services for fishermen bring piracy full circle. Somali pirate  attacks were originally a defensive response to illegal fishing and toxic waste  dumping off Somalia’s cost. Attacks later evolved into a clan-based,  ransom-driven business.

Up to 180 illegal Iranian and 300 illegal Yemeni vessels are fishing Puntland  waters, as well as a small number of Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean and  European-owned vessels, according to estimates by officials in the northern  Somali region of Puntland. International naval officials corroborate the  prevalence of Iranian and Yemeni vessels, the U.N. report said.

Fishermen in Puntland “have confirmed that the private security teams on  board such vessels are normally provided from pools of demobilized Somali  pirates and coordinated by a ring of pirate leaders and associated businessmen  operating in Puntland, Somaliland, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Oman, Yemen  and Iran,” the report said.

The “security” teams help vessels cast nets and open fire on Somali fishermen  in order to drive away competition. “The prize is often lucrative and includes  large reef and open water catch, notably tuna,” the report says.

The nearly 500-page U.N. report also accuses Somalia’s government of  wide-ranging corruption. Somalia’s president said in response that the report  contains “numerous inaccuracies, contradictions and factual gaps.”

“We are pleased to see the huge reduction in piracy, and yet equally  concerned by the reports of increased criminality. We have much work to do to  create legitimate livelihoods and deter Somalis from crime,” President  Abdirahman Omar Osman said.

Somali piracy has been lucrative. The hijackings of 149 ships between April  2005 and the end of 2012 netted an estimated $315 million to $385 million in  ransom payments, according to an April World Bank report.

But fishermen who have participated in piracy might argue that the attacks  were merely bringing back money stolen from Somalis. A 2005 British government  report estimated that Somalia lost $100 million in 2003-04 alone due to illegal  tuna and shrimp fishing in Somali waters.

In Somalia, pirates sometimes refer to themselves as “saviors of the  sea.”

A piracy expert at the International Maritime Bureau, said the protection  racket makes for a “potentially dangerous situation at sea.”

“I guess the region has always been rich in this kind of organized crime,”  said Cyrus Mody. “I think that probably the positive side of all this is it’s  being highlighted which would hopefully give the government in place now enough  movement to try and do something about it with the help of the EU and U.N.”

Piracy peaked in 2009 and 2010, when 46 and 47 vessels were hijacked  respectively, according to the European Union Naval Force. Hijackings dropped to  25 in 2011, five in 2012 and zero so far this year. Still, Somali pirates netted  an estimated $32 million in ransoms last year, the U.N. report said.

One current pirate said he did not know about pirates providing protection to  foreign fishing vessels, but he said some pirates are using Yemeni fishermen to  smuggle weapons into Puntland.

“That’s our current money-making business because ship hijackings have  failed,” a pirate commander who goes by the name Bile Hussein said by phone from  Garacad, a pirate lair in central Somalia. “If you drop one business, you get an  idea for another.”

___

Associated Press reporter Abdi Guled in Mogadishu, Somalia contributed to  this report

Source: AP