Mereja Forum

[AbyssiniaLady]

Untapped Somalis zone beckons Indians

Wednesday, 11 December 2019 | Kumar Chellappan | CHENNAI


Indian Ocean, a battleground between the fishermen of Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka over the rights to fish in region marked as International Maritime Boundary Line has the solution to the decades old political problem. The ‘unexplored’ sea shores of Somalia and Yemen could be the solution India and Sri Lanka are waiting for, according to marine specialists and diplomats.

Prof A Ramachandran, vice chancellor, Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) and an internationally respected industrial marine specialist says that the coastlines of Somalia and Yemen remain underutilised.

“Because of the lack of interest among Somalian fishermen to take the initiative to venture out to the exclusive economic zone of this country, what is happening is that the region is experiencing large scale poaching in the form of unauthorised fishing. Fisheries resources in Somalia remain untapped due to a host of reasons,” Prof Ramachandran told The Pioneer.

He also pointed out that coastlines of Somalia and Yemen and virgin areas. “Fish is not very much relished in these countries,” said Prof Ramachandran.

Since these countries were not very much into fishing, the untapped marine wealth in the form of fish products could be harnessed by entrepreneurs from India. ‘Our fishermen, especially those from Tamil Nadu and Kerala, are skilled in fishing in these regions. The area offers immense potential for our fishermen,” he said.

What makes the Somalian and Yemen coast unique is the presence of large stock of tuna, lobster, sardine , mackerel, cuttle fish and several other species which enjoy big demand in global market, said the vice -chancellor.

Since both Somalia and Yemen are not fully equipped for deep sea fishing and do not have modern infrastructure for storing and processing the catch, there is a big potential for Indian entrepreneurs as well as fishermen, pointed out Prof Ramachandran and Dr Nomvuyo Nokwe, secretary general, Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), an inter-governmental organisation engaged in strengthening regional cooperation and sustainable development within the Indian Ocean region through its 22 member States and nine dialogue partners.

Dr Nokwe, a medical doctor-turned-career diplomat said there was big scope for a win-win situation for all the stake holders viz India, Yemen, Somalia the entrepreneurs and the fishermen if such a cooperation materialises. “We in IORA are willing to play a major role in facilitating such a cooperation between these three countries to develop such an international venture. Indian entrepreneurs have the technology while the fishermen are skilled. This would go a long way in the economic development of all stake holders,” said Dr Nokwe.

Jaya Palayan, founder, South Indian Fishermen Federation, said the suggestion sounded fine. “But we need to ensure the safety of our fishermen from the marauding pirates of Somalia, who made that country an infamous entity because of hijacking of ships and other marine vessels,” said Palayan, a marine engineer turned fishermen activist.

A representative from the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FICCI), an industry body involved in the Blue Economy also expressed his apprehension over the threats posed by the Somalian pirates.

“If we could resolve the issue, there is a possibility of peace returning to the Palk Straits between India and Sri Lanka where the Tamil Nadu fishermen are always accused of poaching from the island nation’s territory,” said the FICCI spokesman.

Somalia and Yemen are calling but the question is whether Indian policy makers are willing to respond and react to the challenge.





This list left out Israel, Oman, Jordan and other middle eastern thieves, It is not the full list of the countries where the thieves fishing fleets come from, Yemenis fishing boats have been fishing in Somali waters for more than 60 years!!!



https://www.dailypioneer.com/2019/india ... dians.html

[AbyssiniaLady]

Annihilation of the Somali upwelling system during summer monsoon

Northeastern Somali Waters.

Somali upwelling system during northern summer is believed to be the largest upwelling region in the Indian Ocean and has motivated some of the early studies on the Indian Ocean. Here we present results from observations and ocean model to show that the upwelling along the Somali coast is limited to the early phase of the summer monsoon and later primarily limited to the eddy dominated flows in the northern and some extent in the southern part of the coast. Major part of the Somali coast (~60% of the entire coastal length) shows prominent downwelling features driven by offshore negative windstress curl and subsurface entrainment mixing. Further, we show that the surface cooling of coastal waters are dominantly driven by subsurface entrainment and surface heat fluxes. These findings not only augment the existing knowledge of the Somali upwelling system, but also have serious implications on the regional climate. Most importantly, our analysis underscores the use of alongshore winds only to project future (climate driven) changes in the upwelling intensity along this coast.

Introduction

Somali upwelling system is considered to be the fifth largest upwelling system of the global ocean and the strongest in the Indian Ocean [Fig. 1]. In contrast to the other eastern boundary upwelling systems, Somali current is an upwelling system associated with western boundary current and reverses its direction annually owing to the seasonally reversing monsoon winds1,2,3. During summer monsoon Somali current flows poleward and exhibits a maximum transport of ~37 ± 5Sv4. This is also marked by a strong surface cooling along the coast, exhibiting strong zonal SST gradient across the Arabian Sea which helps to enhance the moisture transport into the Asian subcontinent and therefore, plays a role in the summer monsoon rainfall over this region5. Summer upwelling also plays an important role in this region’s ecology by elevating nutrient concentration in the upper surface layer, thus making it as one of the most productive marine ecosystems in the world oceans



https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-44099-1

[AbyssiniaLady]

I think it's high time the nobel peace prize winner starts Ethiopian fishing "seafood" industry in Djibouti, Somali water is an el dorado for fishing fleets of many countries.

UAE fishing boat illegally fishing close to the beach in northeastern Somalia.

[AbyssiniaLady]

India to help revive Somalia, Yemen fishing industry

The two-day Somalia Yemen Development Programme held under the auspices of the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies (KUFOS) as part of the International Conference on Blue Economy and Aquatic Resources (AQUABE 2019) concluded at Kochi in Friday with the delegates deciding to meet again in Somalia and Yemen to take forward the road map conceived as part of the conference.

The highlight of the two-day international event was the recognition accorded to KUFOS by Indian Ocean Rim Organisation, (IORA) under whose patronage the conference was held.

“KUFOS and vice chancellor A Ramachandran would play a major role in empowering and strengthening the fishing activities of these two countries (Somalia and Yemen) to lift them out of the present economic situation,” said Dr Nomvuyo N Nokwe, secretary general, IORA at the conclusion of the conference.

Dr Nokwe described the two-day event as fruitful affair. “This was no ordinary conference. The wealth of data provided by KUFOS and the participating delegates have made us to take decision to meet again within six months with an action plan to resuscitate the fishing sector in these two countries,”said the secretary general.

Earlier addressing the delegates, Prof Ramachandran said that innovation and skill development are the two major spheres in which Somalia and Yemen were found lacking.

“We are willing to share our skills and innovations with the fishermen of these two countries which, I am sure, would be a win-win situation for all stake holders,” said Ramachandran.

He also told the delegates from the IORA member nations that KUFOS has set apart seats for students from foreign countries in all its academic progrmmes. “What we are bothered about is the employability of the students passing out from the 32 fisheries colleges in the country. The National Skill Mission has been launched to resolve this issue and we are sure that it would that it will pay rich dividents,”said the KUFOS VC, an authority in industrial fisheries with more than three decades of research and teaching experience.

R Sandhya, additional director, Department of Fisheries , Government of Kerala shared with the delegates about the innovative schemes implemented by the State Government to rejuvenate the fishing sector.

“We have 335 fishing villages and 204 fish landing centres. The marketing strategy formulated by the government has succeeded in getting rid of the middlemen who were playing major role in preventing the fishers from getting their due returns. The fishermen cooperatives and self help groups have changed the fishing sector in the State,”explained Sandhya.

For the delegates from Somalia and Yemen, the concept of fish cooperatives was a new experience and they asked a number of questions about the modalities. “We are going back to our country with a lot of ideas and and information which we hope to implement with slight modification,”said one of the delegates from Somalia

https://www.dailypioneer.com/2019/india ... ustry.html

[Za-Ilmaknun]

It just saddens me to see that the Somalis are being robbed off their natural resources by foreign powers.

[Sadacha Macca]

this is what happens when you cannot get your act together and fight among yourselves. people will take advantage. it's wrong and sad, but...

[AbyssiniaLady]

Yes, It's really sad how wealthy European and East Asian nations rob Somalia off its marine resources.

According to the FAO’s High Seas Task Force (HSTF), an estimated 700 distant water fishing nation vessels which can net and process 250 tonnes of fish each day were engaged in unlicensed fishing in Somali waters in 2005,

Four years later, according to the HSTF, more than 800 distant water fishing nation vessels from over 50 nations were carrying out IUU fishing annually in Somali waters and unloading their catch in Salalah Oman, Ajman UAE or Mombasa Kenya, Distant water fishing nation vessels appear to catch fish from Somali waters with an estimated value of more than $450 million per year.

In 2018 Somalia granted fishing licenses to 31 Chinese vessels to exploit tuna and tuna like species off its coast in a bid to tap the sector for economic growth.




Somali coastal upwelling system is one of the most productive and richest fishing areas in the world, however, these rich Somali waters thus remain ripe for exploitation by Japan, South Korea. China, Taiwan, Thailand, Europeans and Middle eastern countries that possess the funds & technical skills to do so.

[AbyssiniaLady]

There is a looming environmental disaster in the HOA shore, Hodeidah/Ras Isa is just a stone's throw away!!!

Yemen's Houthi rebels call for international assistance as a deserted oil tanker carrying more than a million barrels of oil leaks into Red Sea.
10 hours ago

Houthi rebels in Yemen are appealing for international assistance as a deserted oil tanker off the country's coast continues to leak into the Red Sea.

Both the Houthis and Yemen's government claim ownership of the tanker - and its more than one million barrels of oil.

Al Jazeera's Mohammed al-Attab reports from Sanaa.
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/12/ ... 13449.html