Thread: Toxic Waste Behind Somali Pirates

From the website run by the organization, Project Censored, which attempts to bring to light the most underreported stories with the highest importance to light, come the story behind the Somali Pirates. Since 1991, when the Somali government collapsed, foreign interests have seized the opportunities that this has given them by looting the countries food supply and using the unguarded waters to dump nuclear and other toxic wastes.



From the article:



'According to the High Seas Task Force (HSTF), there were over 800 IUU fishing vessels in Somali waters at one time in 2005, taking advantage of Somalia’s inability to police and control its own waters and fishing grounds. The IUUs poach an estimated $450 million in seafood from Somali waters annually. In so doing, they steal an invaluable protein source from some of the world’s poorest people and ruin the livelihoods of legitimate fishermen.'



According to Nick Nuttall, a UNEP(The United Nations Environment Program) spokesman, told Al Jazeera that when the barrels were smashed open by the force of the waves, the containers exposed a “frightening activity� that had been going on for more than a decade. “Somalia has been used as a dumping ground for hazardous waste starting in the early 1990s, and continuing through the civil war there,� he said. “The waste is many different kinds. There is uranium radioactive waste. There is lead, and heavy metals like cadmium and mercury. There is also industrial waste, and there are hospital wastes, chemical wastes—you name it.�



While the international community condemns the pirating that occurs in Somali Pirates the above practices continue unabated. Its really sickening to think that people use this shield to practice activities that not only destroy the environment, but dramatically harm the well-being of the populace of Somali. Its this type of stuff that needs to be reported and questions need to be asked by the media. Its not happening...



Somai Waters-Toxic Dumping Grounds

[quote name='Gypsy' date='02 January 2010 - 06:18 PM' timestamp='1262477914' post='90764']

I don't think we can expect pirates to live up to an environmental standard.



I do have an idea about how to deter these pirates from taking ships though. The US can't put SEALS on all the US ships so why not have the shipping companies (or their insurance companies ... thanks webrockk for the idea) contract with Blackwater to oversee security while traveling in suspect seas?

[/quote]



There is a possibility that the pirates are getting payed off to look the other way when these activities occur, however I think the point of the article is that while the world focus' on the observable behavior of the pirates other illicit behavior is going on behind the scenes so to speak since the Somalian government fell over 19 years ago.

Hari asks, “Do we expect starving Somalians to stand passively on their beaches, paddling in our nuclear waste, and watch us snatch their fish to eat in restaurants in London and Paris and Rome? We didn’t act on those crimes—but when some of the fishermen responded by disrupting the transit-corridor for 20 percent of the world’s oil supply, we begin to shriek about “evil.� If we really want to deal with piracy, we need to stop its root cause—our crimes —before we send in the gun-boats to root out Somalia’s criminals.�

Wouldn't the fish be unfit to eat?

[quote name='Gypsy' date='02 January 2010 - 04:18 PM' timestamp='1262477914' post='90764']

I don't think we can expect pirates to live up to an environmental standard.



I do have an idea about how to deter these pirates from taking ships though. The US can't put SEALS on all the US ships so why not have the shipping companies (or their insurance companies ... thanks webrockk for the idea) contract with Blackwater to oversee security while traveling in suspect seas?

[/quote]

Good grief. The toxic waste come from the US and Britain. We have polluted their waters for decades, and their fishing grounds are a toxic wasteland.

[quote name='michaelr' date='03 January 2010 - 12:29 PM' timestamp='1262539782' post='91125']

Good grief. The toxic waste come from the US and Britain. We have polluted their waters for decades, and their fishing grounds are a toxic wasteland.

[/quote]



All morality aside, why are we then feeding those same fish to people in restaurants in Europe? Or did I read that wrong?

[quote name='Blueneck' date='03 January 2010 - 09:32 AM' timestamp='1262539958' post='91130']

All morality aside, why are we then feeding those same fish to people in restaurants in Europe? Or did I read that wrong?

[/quote]

I have to assume they are shipped world wide. The Somalians wont fish the area for themselves, it is why they are starving. This is a tragedy.



Remember, this is from the same government that wants to tax you for breathing.

[quote name='michaelr' date='03 January 2010 - 12:37 PM' timestamp='1262540265' post='91134']

I have to assume they are shipped world wide. The Somalians wont fish the area for themselves, it is why they are starving. This is a tragedy.



Remember, this is from the same government that wants to tax you for breathing.

[/quote]



Well, I certainly won't be eating fish from here on out.