Somalis say foreign ships are stealing their fish, and it's fuelling a piracy resurgence

Canada Boats docked in the port of Bosaso on Somalia's northern coast. Fishermen in the area have long complained that foreign vessels are cutting into the their livelihood by fishing in areas reserved for locals, overfishing or fishing without legitimate licences. That has driven some to seek income from piracy.( Submitted by Abdirahman Abdi Ali) A vessel with the EU Naval Force Operation ATALANTA, which conducts anti-piracy operations in the western Indian Ocean and the Red Sea, is seen near the tanker ship Hellas Aphrodite, which was boarded by pirates on Nov. 6, 2025.(EU Naval Force Operation ATALANTA) Fish on display at the Bosaso fish market.(Submitted by Abdirahman Abdi Ali) Mohamed Saciid, 23, a local fisherman from Mogadishu, says armed Iranians took his boat from him by force earlier this year. 'I can't fight back.'(Submitted by Mohamed Saciid) Ali, pictured here in blue long-sleeved shirt at a local fish market in Bosaso last year, says locals have seen fish sticks decline. But it's hard to get a clear picture because data collection is poor in a country riven by war for decades.(Submitted by Abdirahman Abdi Ali) Members of the Puntland Maritime Police Force (PMPF) patrol the Gulf of Aden off the coast of the semi-autonomous state of Puntland in Somalia in November 2023. Pirate activity in the region has picked up in recent years as international patrols have shifted to countering the Houthi-led attacks in the Red Sea.(Jackson Njehia/The Associated Press) Iranian fishing ships are seen docked after they were detained by Puntland marine forces in Bosaso in October 2015. Iranian vessels have been accused of fishing illegally in Somali waters over the past decade, including as recently as this fall.(Abdiqani Hassan/Reuters) Fishermen carry a tuna to the market in Mogadishu in April 2025. Somalia needs to make its fishery more sustainable by doing things like investing in cold storage, processing and aquaculture, says local fisheries expert Abdiwahid Hersi.(Farah Abdi Warsameh/The Associated Press) Ali examines the wares at the Bosaso fish market in 2024. The harbour pilot says foreign vessels that fish beyond what their licences allow are causing 'widespread destruction' to marine habitats and locals' ability to earn a living from fishing.(Submitted by Abdirahman Abdi Ali) A man fishes in the waters of the Indian Ocean in the Hamarweyne district of Mogadishu in November. Somalia recently took steps to more strictly regulate fishing and recoup some of the millions of dollars it loses through illegal and unreported fishing.(Feisal Omar/Reuters) A man in Mogadishu works on a fishing boat in June 2012 in front of a building destroyed during the protracted civil war. The unstable political and security situation in the 1990s and early 2000s left Somalia's coast vulnerable to vessels that engaged in unregulated and illegal fishing.(Goran Tomasevic/Reuters) A beached dolphin in Bosaso on the northern coast of Somalia in 2023 that Ali says was likely part of the bycatch that some vessels inadvertently scoop up in their nets and discard.(Submitted by Abdirahman Abdi Ali) Dead sharks washed up...

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