Somalia orders illegally fishing foreign vessels out of its waters

The Somali government has ordered foreign vessels illegally fishing in its waters to “urgently” leave the Somali exclusive economic zone.

In a statement on Sunday, the Ministry of Fisheries and Blue Economy of Somalia said its fisheries’ monitoring center has gathered evidence “that there have been several fishing vessels from different foreign countries which were illegally fishing in Somali water.”

It noted that the illegal fishing in Somalia’s EEZ has been taking place since January 2023 and “constitutes a significant threat to our sustainable fishing regulation, fish stock and a long-standing concern to the food security economic development and marine ecology of the country.”

The ministry rejected the so-called endorsement letters as not being legal and thus “cannot be justified as a valid legal permit to fish in the Somali marine water.”

It ordered all foreign vessels “illegally operating in the Somali waters … to urgently leave the Somali EEZ” and “to pay compensation for the fish property of which they illegally took from our EEZ” failure to which “they will be subject to punishment and prosecution of the Somali and international law.”

Since the collapse of the central government in 1991, Somalia has been prone to illegal fishing within its EEZ.