A long-term maritime agreement may probably increase Somalia’s naval capacity to curb illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.
Somalia loses around US$300 million annually to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in its vast waters. Boasting Africa’s longest coastline – approximately 3 333 km along the northern Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden – the country’s seas are extremely lucrative for both legal and illegal fishing operations.
Weak governance, political instability and lack of efficient law enforcement aggravate the illegal fishing situation. To address this, Türkiye and Somalia signed a memorandum of understanding in February 2024, establishing the Turkish Armed Forces as a partner in Somalia’s maritime security and law enforcement for the following 10 years.
Most illegal fishing in Somalia is carried out by international fishing vessels from countries care for China, Iran, South Korea, Taiwan, Spain and varied European nations. A Mogadishu-based researcher who requested anonymity said operators of some international vessels illegally obtained fishing licences.
‘There is rarely any such thing as a way for the govtto know how much fish has been taken as they rarely document back,’ he said. ‘They task the fish and export to international markets.’
However the situation is also nearer to home, with some federal member states, such as Puntland and Somaliland, issuing their very maintain licences without consulting Somalia’s federal govt.
Within the early 2000s, with the near depletion of domestic stock due to illegal fishing, a lot of of Somali fishermen turned to extremely hazardous but lucrative piracy to ‘give protection to’ the country’s resources and strengthen their threatened livelihoods via ransom-taking.
Multinational naval force interventions helped eliminate the threat to Somalia’s coastal waters. This security was then again disrupted in 2024 when indicators of a potential resurgence emerged, partly linked to Houthi attacks on vessels within the Crimson Sea.
In 2011, President Recep Erdogan, Türkiye’s top minister at the time, made a historic saunter to to Somalia and reopened its embassy within the capital, Mogadishu. The ongoing relationship has been a game changer for Somalia, with Türkiye embarking on ambitious long-term funding plans whereas the remaining of the world shunned the war-ravaged country.
Türkiye provided the largest amount of international aid within the wake of a excessive drought in Somalia in 2011, and has invested over US$100 million within the country’s financial system. These investments span specialised combat training colleges, hospitals, educational establishments and municipal companies and products.
More lately, Türkiye has invested in exploring and extracting vast hydrocarbon deposits off Somalia’s prolonged coastline. Turkish mushy energy, buoyed by cultural, historical and non secular affinity with the Muslim-majority nation, appears to be paying off.
Underneath the terms of the latest deals between the 2 countries, Somalia will outsource the protection of its territorial waters and marine resources to Türkiye over the following 10 years. Türkiye will strengthen Somalia’s maritime security capabilities via training, joint operations, information sharing and naval acquisition.
The maritime pact is anticipated to supply Somalia’s naval forces the reconstruction, tools and training wished to monitor and curb the upward push of illegal fishing in its waters. In return, Türkiye may nonetheless obtain 30% of the revenue from Somalia’s weird financial zone and withhold an eye on of gas and oil explorations. Estimates demonstrate that Somalia has a potential of 30 billion barrels of oil and gas.
It is far rarely known how the deal will impact the semi-autonomous station of Puntland and the breakaway Somaliland, which have similar arrangements with varied regional powers.
Türkiye has a solid track file in imposing capacity constructing in Somalia’s security sector. This entails training elite fashions, establishing Camp TURKSOM (a Turkish military base), selling unmanned aerial automobiles to Somalia, operating Mogadishu’s main airport and seaport, and participating in counter-terrorism airstrikes against al-Shabaab.
That means Türkiye’s promise to assemble Somalia’s naval capacity will seemingly bear fruit – enhancing the latter’s ability to withhold an eye on its maritime zone, apprehend illegal vessels, curb toxic dumping and avert piracy in collaboration with Türkiye’s navy.
Nonetheless, challenges nonetheless exist. A memorandum of understanding signed at the starting of 2024 between landlocked Ethiopia and Somaliland may probably complicate the equation. Although the exact terms of the agreement are unclear, the gist is that in return for Ethiopia’s recognition of Somaliland, Ethiopia will catch sea access and a military base within the strategic Gulf of Aden.
Somalia initially saw this as a violation of its sovereignty and demanded that Addis Ababa cancel the deal. In December 2024, Türkiye facilitated a assembly between Somalia and Ethiopia, and the following Ankara Declaration eased tensions between the 2 countries regarding sea access.
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Nonetheless, may nonetheless Somalia strive to lengthen its jurisdiction over Somaliland’s weird financial zone, the Türkiye-Somalia maritime cooperation agreement may exacerbate tensions.
Somalia has been a area of intense competitors between considerable countries, such as the United States, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, the UK and China. Many of these states have invested in ports, health and education, counter-terrorism, security sector capacity strengthen and infrastructural fashion.
These nations may not be impressed with the rising weird access Somalia has given to Türkiye. The Somalia-Türkiye deal may probably irk some into withdrawing or scaling down their crucial security sector and fashion strengthen. This can unhurried Somalia’s pace of recovery.
An intricate balancing act shall be wished to withhold Türkiye centered on serving to to curb illegal fishing whereas Somalia rebuilds a more peaceful future with its neighbours and varied international partners.
This article was first printed by ENACT.
Samira Aden Abdi, Research Officer, East Africa Regional Organised Crime Observatory, ENACT, ISS Nairobi
Halkano Wario, East Africa Regional Organised Crime Observatory, ENACT, ISS Nairobi
