Armies of Liberation

Thank you. The fisheries have been irking me for years. The numbers do not and never did add up. The diesel smuggling is much clearer, but the level of smuggling and under-reporting on the fisheries is astounding. The black market economy in Yemen is the main wheel of industry. If the massive corruption is what underpins political instability, then dismantling criminal networks is a primary requirement and a job beyond the capacity of SNACC as the political and military elite are the beneficiaries of the current system.

Is this a new Fisheries Minister? He’s taking quite a stand. There were also statements a few weeks ago accurately indicating the level of corruption in the Ministry as well as the industry. Random fisheries factoid, Abdelmajid al Zindani was on the corporate board of the Yemeni Fisheries Company, but it never made any money (very high expenses) and investors lost on the stocks.

Yemen Times SANA’A, Nov. 14- More than 40,000 tons of shrimp and squid were exported illegally from Yemeni coasts during 2008 and 2009, said the Minister of Fishery Wealth, Mohammad Shamlan. (Read on …)

For years, the fishing statistics never added up for me, and finally we have an official recognition of the issue. The figure is 40,000 tons annually or about 20% of total production, but its a rough number. That the statement was made by the Fisheries Minister and published by SABA is encouraging but only to the extent that the corruption is countered in an effective way. There has been public disclosure of many organized criminal activities, but little meaningful efforts to disrupt them after. There are a few potential non-oil industries that could be developed to replace the rapidly depleting oil economy and one of the most important is the fisheries.

SABA 40000 Tons of Yemen Fish Trafficked Annually, Minister Reveals
(Read on …)

Updated to include dates of Iranian warships on “piracy patrols” that landed in Yemen.

Possibly the mystery of the three recent incidents of exploding Yemeni fishing boats can be explained as Iranian missile shipments. The following article asserts Iran is shipping from an African country, likely Sudan, to Yemen. A Yemeni fishing boat also exploded in a Sudanese port and Yemen’s Midi Island is a new transit point for Sudanese refugees. Once there’s a smuggling route established for weapons, the boats often also transport refugees.

However this report is taken from a Yemeni government stooge newspaper, Akhbar al Youm, which once announced that Ayatollah Sistani and I (me Jane) wrote the 2005 Amnesty International report, so there you go… It could be spin but the part that seems truest is that Yemeni government officials facilitated the shipment’s entry to Yemen. Its equally likely the Iranian missiles, if they were off loaded in Yemen, were destined for al Qaeda as the Houthi rebels. The paper is owned by President Saleh’s half brother General Ali Mohsen al Ahmar who is in a perpetual power struggle with other elements of the family. General al Ahmar is tasked with leading the war against the Houthi rebels, and as odd as it seems, a shipload of Chinese weapons was recently imported (with forged documents from the Yemeni defense ministry), thought destined for the Houthi rebels. Its a very fractured government.

Adding some weight to the story is the January 09 incident of Israel bombing an Iranian weapons shipment headed for Gaza from The Sudan, with Yemen noted as a leg of the route. So if Iran is drop shipping weapons to Sudan, from there they could go either direction. Two Iranian warships did dock in Yemen during the time frame referenced (prior to August 09), approved by Yemen’s president. A third fleet docked in September 2009.

Yemen Tribune SANAA, 15 Oct — The pro-government daily newspaper, Akhbar al-Youm Thursday quoted ‘special’ sources as saying “Iran provided the Shiite insurgents in Yemen with advanced anti-armour missiles one month before the sixth round of war erupted between the Zaydi Shiite rebels and government forces in north Yemen.” “The information we obtained revealed the missiles were shipped through the sea via an Iranian vessel that began its journey from an African port,” said Akhbar al-Youm, adding “the Iranian missiles-laden vessel docked near Yemen’s Mydi port in Hajja where smaller boats transferred the missiles to Mydi. The missiles were then moved and stored in farms near Mydi and later were transferred to the rebels through Hajja and Hodeida.” “State officials were involved in the operation and arranged for the Iranian ship to enter Yemeni water territorial,” said Akhbar al-Youm, adding “security agencies arrested several of those officials and investigation is underway.” A few weeks ago, media reports talked about ‘mysterious’ blasts in Mydi port where boats were blown up and Akhbar al-Youm said “the blasts were the result of clashes between the coastguard and individuals aboard those boats who were delivering arms to the Shiite insurgents.”

I was concerned at the time the fishing boats were exploding about a coordinated maritime al Qaeda attack on the NATO fleet in the Gulf of Aden, that is the Yemeni signature, but this convoluted story is much more apt to be likely.

This is the third fishing boat to explode since May. Are they smuggling explosives, fishing with explosives? It is described as a massive explosion. The location is Maydi in Hajjah, near the Saudi border, south of Sa’ada. We earlier noted Maydi (Medi) Island is a new way station for human smuggling from Sudan.

Also note the the port is under the direction of the Border Guards which fall under the Defense Ministry, not the Coast Guard. As earlier noted regarding weapons trafficking, the ports with the highest rates of arms smuggling are those under military control, not the Coast Guard. The Border Guard and the Coast Guard have been involved in several scuffles when the BG interferes in CG efforts to combat smuggling. To the extent that the US is interested in border control, the facilitation of smuggling by aspects of the Yemeni security forces is an important consideration.

al Tagheer: أفادت مصادر مطلعة عن دوي انفجار شديد في ميناء الصيد بمديرية ميدي التابعة لمحافظة حجة صباح الاثنين في حوالي الساعة الرابعة فجرا تضرر فيه ثلاثة قوارب صيد احدهم يتبع ضباط بالجيش ويدعى محمد حنيش. Informed sources said a loud blast in the fishing port MIDI Directorate in the province of argument on Monday morning at about four o’clock am the damaged fishing boats, one of three military officers followed, Mohammed Hanish. (Read on …)

HADRAMOUT, June 19 (Saba) – Yemen says it had seized two fishing boats carrying a huge stash of drugs hidden in 162 bags.

The two boats were apprehended 13 nautical miles off the port of Sher city in the western Hadramout province. Two Africans were seized on one of the boat and five Yemenis were seized on the second boat.

The Africans were a Tanzanian and a Kenyan, ages 35-36, while the five Yemenis were aged 19-52. In May, the Public Prosecution destroyed four tonnes of hashish and six million pills of amphetamines. The drugs quantities were said could sell for over $ 83 million.

About 75 suspects including 47 Yemenis, 12 Pakistanis, 10 Iranians, 2 Syrians, 2 Saudis and a Eritrean and Ethiopian, have faced drugs trafficking and trade charges in the country in recent months.

The trials of some of the suspected drugs traffickers and dealers have been completed with some sentenced to death and others to years in prison. Other trials are still under process.

Very interesting, I’ve been waiting for more Sudan/Yemen news after the Yemeni fishing boat exploded in Sudanese waters and the Yemeni small plane crashed after take-off in the Sudan.

Cars waiting to take them to the Saudi border is well coordinated, indicates good communication and, for human trafficking to Yemen, elaborate. Landing is not the norm. Often the poor refugees get dumped from the boat and swim to shore; no one is waiting. Landing on the islands I think is new also. I wonder what the boats are taking back? Drugs, guns, diesel? Article is from the Yemen Observer:

Yemen’s Medi Island of Hajjah province close to the Saudi borders has become a new passing point for African refugees to the Gulf countries. The past few days witnessed the arrival of large groups said that an anonymous groups of African refugees from different nationalities-Nigerians, Sudanese, Chadian.

The Red Sea has become also the new passing through point for African refugees after it was only confined to Somalis and their fatal trips in the Gulf of Aden.

Yemen’s Coastguards have captured more than 500 Africans while attempting to sneak into the lands of Saudi Arabia. The coastguards also have captured 110 African refugees in the Medi Island after thie arrival on a smuggling boat. Sources at the coastguards said that there were several cars that were waiting for them to carry them to Hardh district located at the Saudi borders to smuggle them into Saudi Arabia. (Read on …)

The network of spotters is interesting, but the several Yemeni ports more so.

Yemen Times: But how did Yemeni fishermen become pirates? The answer was disclosed by the fishermen themselves, who explained that many times they have been kidnapped by Somalis pirates, who use the fishing boats to attack commercial ships. (Read on …)

First of all, lets keep in mind that the report that “a missile” from the international fleet targeted the first Yemeni fishing boat that exploded Tuesday off the coast of the Sudan is entirely unsubstantiated and a product of the Yemeni State Media, which often lies, blatant absurd lies.

In the second case this week, the official story that follows is three fishermen exited the boat at Yemen’s Honey Island (what a nice name!) and triggered a land mine. It could be, or it could be something else like a new trade in more volatile explosives. I haven’t a clue, there are a lot of land mines in Yemen, but one exploding Yemeni fishing boat is odd, two is flakey. Both stories were announced by Saba:
Mine explosion kills two Yemeni fishermen in Red Sea island

HODEIDA, May 28 (Saba) – Two days after a missile hit a Yemeni boat in the Red Sea killing and injuring its crew members, two Yemeni fishermen died on Thursday but this time a landmine explosion was probably behind the catastrophe which took place in the Honey Island near the Yemeni island of Al-Zubair in the Red Sea.

A third Yemeni fisherman was seriously injured and taken to a hospital in Hodeida and he is still in the intensive care unit.

Sources told news websites the boat had a crew of 11, but only three were at the boat when the explosion took place, while the other crew members were preparing a meal.

When the three left their boat in the island, an explosion was heard which preliminary investigations revealed it was a mine detonation killing two and hurting the third.

The two killed were identified as Abdu Ibrahim, 20, and Ahmed Ibrahim,35.

However, speculations arose that the explosion was a missile that targeted the boat, raising fear international troops are aiming to cleanse Yemeni fishermen under the pretext of being suspected pirates.

On Tuesday, a missile, believed to be fired by one of the international naval ships patrolling the region, hit a Yemeni boat killing and injuring its crew members.

OK lets get the deisel smuggling out of the way- daily shipments from Yemen to Africa of government subsidized diesel. (Related: Daily Star: US Navy rescues 52 stranded Somalis.)

The much bigger issue is the exploding fishing boat. Its unclear that any missile hit it at this point; its could have been laden with explosives or carrying an aged gas canister and blew up accidentally. Its important for the international fleet to remain vigilant about the danger of maritime terror attacks in the Gulf of Aden. There is good reason to assume a defensive position after the USS Cole bombing (and the later Limburg). The sailors on the Cole waved at the approaching boat; the Navy cannot repeat that mistake, especially now when its easy to be desensitized by having dealt with the Somali pirates for a year or more. The rules of engagement should not allow hapless lost Yemeni fishermen to approach military vessels, blame it on al Badawi.

A statement from al Qaeda Central called for naval jihad (May 26 2008), the October one by a Yemeni forecast a major event around Somalia. The links between AQAP in Yemen and al Shabab go back to the ICU and before. Its a predictable scenario that AQAP would attempt to outdo the Cole bombing when the waters are full of such tempting targets. And I don’t necessarily mean al Wahishi.

Why Yemeni fishermen are near the Sudan is another question. The Yemeni flight school for small planes that flies back and forth between Yemen and Sudan is something, what I don’t know. Its could be normal criminal smuggling activity, spotters for pirates or something entirely innocuous.
Yemen Post

Two Yemeni fishermen were killed and one was injured while the fate of a fourth one is still unknown after their boat came under an aggressive assault by one of the international naval ships patrolling the Red Sea near Sudan on Tuesday.

A source at the Coast Guard said Abdu Marwani and Muhammad Naj’e were killed immediately after their boat was totally destroyed by a missile which some suspect was an air strike. Sources at Yemen’s navy said it probably came from sea.

While the third fisherman made it to Sudanese coast and is now in critical condition. The fishermen came from the Midy area, Hajjah before their boat was hit near Sudan’s waters.

A coordinated investigation by Yemen and Sudan is underway to explore reasons for the attack.

Meanwhile, director of the Midy district Abdul Majeed Al-Himyari dismissed reports a Yemeni boat was attacked in Yemen’s territorial waters, saying the incident took place while the boat was in Sudan’s territorial waters. He told the media the survivor is being investigated by Sudan.

Tuesday’s attack comes in a series of attacks against Yemeni fishing boats by international forces patrolling the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.

Early this year, two Yemeni sailors were killed as their boats came under separate attacks by international troops in the Indian Ocean. Few others were hurt, with troops saying they suspected the boats were for pirates and then hit them.

And this month, the Interior Ministry said a Yemeni boat was provoked, with NATO’s mission in the region intimidating its crew.

The area where the boat was hit on Tuesday is witnessing large fuel smuggling, with eyewitnesses affirming boats smuggle diesel to African Horn States daily.

None of the fisheries numbers line up and they haven’t for years (the exports reported by businessess and the official reports-and the prices reported). Its among the most corrupt for sure, which is saying a lot. The question is where is the leakage going and is the connection to Zindani severed informally as well as officially? Thers’s all the deals with the foreign companies, the diversion of donor aid and the destruction of the marine ecosystem as additional concerns.

Yemen Post

The country has seen a fall in fish production over the last few years. Despite the conflicting statistics of the Ministry of Fish Wealth about Yemen’s exports of fish products, the contribution of this sector is still limited and does not exceed 1.7 percent of the total exports.
According to the ministry, fish production of 2008 dropped to 127,000 tons, from 256,000 tons in 2004 and 230,000 tons during in 2005 and 2006. It fell to 180,000 tons in 2007. (Read on …)

Yemen Times

Yemen’s economy highly depends on oil resources, with the country’s oil exports accounting for around 85 percent of export revenues and 33 percent of the GDP, according to Oct. 2007 statistics.

These figures indicate how heavily Yemen depends on oil, although the depletion threatens the oil reserves which are estimated at 116,800,000 barrels per year and 320,000 barrels per day, on average in 2007.

Yemeni non-oil exports accounted for about 27 percent of export revenues in 2007, with little improvement from 22 percent in 2006. This information came from Yahya Al-Motwakel, Minister of Industry and Trade, who reported it in the latest National Exports Conference which was held in Sana’a between November 24th and 25th, 2008.

The total revenue of the non-oil exports rose from around twelve billion YR in 2000 to YR 123 billion in 2007, according to Noman Al-Mulsi, secretary general of the Yemeni Export Supreme Council. (Read on …)

Otay. Yemen Post:

Negotiations got underway to release 28 Yemeni fishermen who were held by Somali pirates off Socotra island in the Arab Sea four months ago, informed sources said.

The pirates held 33 Yemeni fishermen along with three boats, but they used one of the boats together with five of the fishermen on the boat and took the others away to continue piracy acts, the sources said.

The pirates have been seizing the fishermen and using them as human shields while using the boats for piracy acts.

Authorities informed international forces in the Indian ocean about the incident as the forces then launched a hunt for the pirates. Two pirates were killed in clashes with the international forces.

However, the fate of the fishermen is still unclear.

Some of the British forces located in the ocean were pursuing the pirates, who were seizing the five fishermen, but the pirates escaped and the fate of the fishermen has not been known yet.

Piracy has recently soared threatening the Gulf of Aden and the Arab Sea despite the multinational forces in the area.

Yemen Times

local and international reports indicate that fisheries are one of Yemen’s potential sources of wealth after its oil supplies are depleted. (Read on …)

Yemen Post

Eritrean authorities deployed last week 32 Yemeni fishermen in two wrecking boats and sources indicated that the fishermen arrived in Al-Hodeidah’s Midi Port in a critical condition because of the inhumanly treatment by the Eritrean authorities.

The sources mentioned that Eritrean authorities arrested the 32 fishermen along with their four boats while they were fishing in Yemen’s regional waters. The fishermen were jailed in Eritrea and they were forced to pay fines.

The Eritrean authorities also confiscated the caught fish, fishing equipments and foodstuffs on the boats. Further, they sent them back home over two wrecking boats and this posed a great danger to their lives especially when they traveled for about 200 km.

Alsahwa.net

March 11, 2008- Yemeni recently released fishermen have revealed that they were subject to military trials after they were arrested by Eritrean authorities in Yemen’s regional water.

They affirmed to Alsahwa.net that they appealed the Yemeni authorities to shoulder their responsibilities towards their buddies currently imprisoned in the Eritrean jails.

They further confirmed they were released after they paid fines and confiscating their assets.

The fishermen demanded the government and local and international human rights organizations and media to consider their issue ,emphasizing that they were severely treated by the Eritrean authorizes without explanations.

Yemen Times

Yemen’s fisheries sector increasingly has contributed to its food supplies and security, with an estimated 70 percent of fresh and canned fish caught annually going for domestic consumption. The per capita average increased from 6 kilograms in 2002 to 9 kilograms in 2004. Although well below international levels, this per capita average has reduced red meat imports.

The fisheries sector provided more than 315,000 jobs in 2004, compared to only 100,000 in 1990. This significant sector employs approximately 65 thousand people and 250,000 others in related activities such as marketing and selling fish.

Yemen’s fisheries workforce represents approximately 3.5 percent of its overall economically active population, supporting some 1.7 million dependents, or 8.6 percent of the nation’s total population.

Fishing pirates

Fish resources, marine organisms and fish fauna at numerous points along the Yemeni coasts of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden and the Arabian Sea are wasted, destroyed and looted, thus jeopardizing the country’s fisheries.

Available information indicates that at least 60 active multinational fishing vessels, some of which are unlicensed, are operating in Yemeni waters. Not only do they fish a mere 25 kilometers off the Yemeni coast, they use explosives to force fish outside their habitats.

Ecological disaster already, fish washing up on shore.

HODEIDAH, NewsYemen

Reliable sources in Hodeidah said that Yemeni Coast Guards have found, two miles off Al-Salif port, 26 bags contain poisonous materials threw out in the Yemeni territorial waters near Camaran island by an unknown trade ship last Wednesday.

The coast guards along with teams from the ministries of fisheries, environment and maritime science are looking for more bags might be thrown out and washed by wind to somewhere else, said the sources. They said that many fish and other sea livings were found dead on shores near Al-Salif port.

Official bodies do not talk about this fearing a horrible environmental crisis may happen due to such materials if searching teams could not find them and get them out, said the sources.

Sources pointed that each bag contains 400 gram of such dangerous materials.

This incident came few hours after Yemeni Coast Guards lifted up bodies of ten thousand livestock hurled by a ship coming from the African Horn to water off Hodeidah coasts, according to official sources that did not identify the ship.

Yemen Times

SANA’A, Dec. 16 — 10,000 livestock have sunk in the red see as a result of a U.A.E ship turned over. Likewise, another boat, belonging to Yemeni traders, carrying a huge quantity of pesticides made the same problem in the red see. Livestock and pesticides endangered the Red Sea resources, confirmed Yaha Al-kynaei, Chairman of the Yemen Authority for Developing Yemeni Islands. (Read on …)

The fisheries numbers never add up for me.

Revenues of Yemeni fisheries exports declined in 2007, says report

[01 December 2007]

SANA’A, Dec. 01 (Saba)- Revenues of Yemeni exports of fish declined during the period from January to September of 2007 to $ 151 million compared to $ 191 million of the same period of last year, official report said on Saturday.

Deputy Minister of Fisheries Wealth Ghazi al-Ahmar attributed decline to directives of the ministry to ban exporting some kinds of fish to meet needs of the local market.

The fishes were exported to 49 countries, al-Ahmar said, making clear that the ministry, in cooperation with European Union, is to draw technical standards to design and support fishers facilities and boats to improve exports of fish in order to enter European markets.

At the end of last year, the amount of the Yemeni fish exports increased to around 89,000 tons at an increase of 5.3 tons in 2005.

$200 per ton? I have to check the old links.

Yemen Times

SANA’A, Dec. 2 — Mahmoud Shediawah, Director of the General Authority for Protecting the Environment, emphasized the importance of preserving sea cucumbers considering them an environmentally and economically important resource.

A workshop was conducted in Sana’a on Nov. 28 to study the findings and recommendations of a report on sea cucumber fishing in Yemen. The report was prepared in cooperation with the Regional Authority to Preserve the Red Sea Environment and Gulf of Aden.

In the workshop, Shediawah said that increased demands for sea cucumbers created pressure to exploit them, leading to an environmental imbalance threatening to make this resource extinct.

He also invited new programs to systemize sea cucumber fishing as well as to preserve and protect the environment. The sea cucumber is threatened due to a huge depletion of their numbers, he claimed.

Yemen Times

Squid catches have declined by 60 percent

Al-Mahra, Sept. 1 — Squid catches have dropped by 60% in Al-Mahra in the current fishing season alone. According to sources, this may be due to the random shoveling works performed by industrial fishing ships in areas specified for traditional fishing. Nashtoon Association for Squid Production has marked that it stands at 340 tons for the period from July,13 to Augus,27- an incredible decline from the intake during last years period. Subsequently, the government has taken action to prevent the exposure of these valuable fishing areas to shoveling with the passing of the 2006 Law No.2.

Tourism is shot, the port isn’t under construction yet, and the fisheries are doing very poorly indeed.

Yemen Times

Although Yemen has a long coastline stretching for over 2000 kilometers across the Red Sea, Gulf of Aden and Arab Sea, Yemen’s marine wealth has been facing a number of obstacles towards proper utilization of this asset. Yemen’s marine wealth is estimated at 850 thousand tones allowing the production of 350-400 thousand tones per annum to maintain sustainability; however, Yemen’s annual production did not exceed 290 thousand tones, mainly generated through the unorganized fishing sector consisting of around 65.000 fishermen according to official numbers.

Furthermore, the remote governorate of Al-Mahara, which accommodates around 90,000 people (0.45 percent of population), is responsible for producing around 98.1 thousand tones of fisheries, estimated at over 41.5 percent of the country’s total fisheries production, while other coastal governorates such as Hodieda and Aden are responsible for 9 percent and 4.9 percent of fisheries production respectively.

It is noted that Al-Mahara’s fisheries production been growing in spite of the limited government interference and the underdeveloped financial and services infrastructure which might be offered to fishermen, apart from the non-existence of private-sector enterprising initiatives which can develop the fishing industry in the governorate. This fact indicates that Al-Mahara governorate has promising potential to further increase the production of fisheries, while showing the strong contrast with the production of other governorates.

Corrupt Ministry of Marine Wealth

A recent parliamentarian report accused the Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Wealth of being the biggest obstacle against the development of the fisheries industry in Yemen, the report accuses the ministry of issuing and renewing licenses to local and foreign fishing companies to fish within 4 and 5 miles from the coast, in spite of an existing law which forbids issuing licenses for fishing companies within 21 miles from the coast. Marine experts indicate that shallow waters are breeding grounds for many types of fish as it protects them from sea currents, while fishing within this area is hazardous to the reproduction of fish and seriously diminishes the sustainability of marine wealth. (Read on …)