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UNITED NATIONS, Feb. 21, 2012 (IPS/GIN) - The international community has failed to grapple with the real underlying political and economic issues facing the troubled East African nation of Somalia, which has been surviving without an effective government for over two decades, according to a new study released here.
With the country's 3,300-km coastline virtually unprotected, industrial fishing vessels from Europe and Asia have entered the area in large numbers and are plundering Somalia's rich maritime resources.
"Having over-fished their home waters, these sophisticated factory ships are seeking catch in one of the world's richest remaining fishing zones," says the report published by the New York-based Global Policy Forum (GPF).
"The foreign boats are illegal, unreported and unregulated - part of a growing international criminal fishing enterprise," it says.
Authored by Suzanne Dershowitz and James Paul, the report was released ahead of a high-level international conference on Somalia scheduled to take place in London Feb. 23.
Other Options "Crises like Somalia are not accidental and they can be solved, but as always in these cases, geo-strategic and economic interests are at stake, preventing sensible outcomes and actually deepening the crisis," James Paul told IPS.
"Unfortunately, the African Union is not playing the constructive role that we might hope for and is working with the big powers to move forward with a militarised policy." The United Nations and the international community could easily address the illegal fishing and toxic dumping through the creation of a coast guard, a solution that would be much cheaper than the large foreign naval forces and much more appropriate as well, he said.
Better yet, the nations should create a truly strong worldwide regime to ban illegal fishing and toxic dumping.