Somalia | Natural Resources & Beyond

[Vmoses]

I never understood why warships were stationed off the coast of Somalia at a cost of millions per day ostensibly to protect shipping when you could pay a fraction of that money to coastal communities to chase the pirates away. Then I saw this article:

Piracy off Somalia's coast is a cause of falls in tuna catches in the Indian Ocean - one of the world's richest sources of the fish, experts say.

The Indian Ocean tuna industry is said to be worth up to $6bn

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7845173.stm

The head of the Indian Ocean Tuna Commission, Alejandro Anganuzzi, said catches fell by about 30% last year, seriously affecting the industry.

The Seychelles economy has been badly hit as many foreign fishing fleets are based there.

The reduced supply because of piracy has also driven up the price of tuna.
Ship seizures

The Indian Ocean tuna industry is said to be worth up to $6bn.

Last year Somali pirates took 42 commercial ships with crews hostage, according to the International Maritime Bureau, including the biggest oil supertanker ever captured.

A number of countries began naval patrols off East Africa and in the Gulf of Aden to try to combat the attacks.

With the threat still present, fishing fleets have had to move further east from the Somali coast, Mr Anganuzzi told Reuters news agency.

About 40% of Seychelles's foreign earnings come from tuna and related industries, the IOTC said.

French and Spanish fleets based in Seychelles caught only 50% of their expected catch.

The fleets usually catch nearly two-thirds of the year's haul off Somalia between August and November, he said.

Seychelles is paid per tonne of fish landed for port facilities and reduced catches mean fewer calls to port.

"The pirates' biggest impact, however, is reduced supply, driving prices up," the head of the Seychelles Fisheries Authority, Rondolph Payet, told Reuters.

[juzme123]

MARINE RESOURCES

Somalia's northern coastline on the Gulf of Aden from Djibouti to Ras Asir is about 1,000 km long. Its eastern coast extends along the Indian Ocean from Ras Asir to Kenya for about 2,000 km. Coral fringe reef is found in many places. The continental shelf along both coasts is narrow, usually extending not more than between 6 and 30 km from the shore, except in the Ras Asir to Ras Mabber area where the shelf is up to 60 km wide. UNEP (1987) gives the following estimates for the shelf areas.

The international community has come out in force to condemn and declare war on the Somali fishermen pirates, while discreetly protecting the illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fleets from around the world that have been poaching and dumping toxic waste in Somali waters since the fall of the Somali government eighteen years ago.

In 1991, when the government of Somalia collapsed, foreign interests seized the opportunity to begin looting the country’s food supply and using the country’s unguarded waters as a dumping ground for nuclear and other toxic waste.

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.

In general, the pelagic fish stocks in the Somali EEZ are estimated to be capable of providing sustainable annual catches of the order of 200 000 t, based on several fish surveys conducted in the 1970s and 1980s. Because of the known pelagic fish resources, which are large, and tuna and mackerel species, which have high unit values, the long-term development of these resources could be of vast importance to the economy.

These main groups are considered below.

Large pelagic stocks

The large pelagic species are tuna and big mackerels, mainly yellowfin tuna (Thunnus albacares), longtail tuna (Thunnus tonggol), bonito (Sarda orientalis), skipjack tuna (Katsuwonus pelamis) and Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson). They are usually caught in inshore waters; their seasonal variations in abundance are considerable, confirming the oceanic migratory pattern of these species. There are two peaks in the landings: in November and in March. However, during the southwest monsoon, their abundance is assumed to be low. They also make important contributions to artisanal fishery production. The primary season for Spanish mackerel is March–June, and for tunas it is October–November. These stocks are lightly exploited by the artisanal fishery sector, but are heavily exploited by the industrial fishery sector, mainly by foreign-flag distant-water fishing fleets, and it is possible that they are overexploited. The foreign vessels compete with the artisanal fishermen, by coming close inshore and inflicting losses, including physical confrontation between the two sides which has led to gear losses and at times to loss of life.

Small pelagic stocks

The small pelagic fish species of interest are Indian oil sardinella (Sardinella longiceps), rainbow sardine (Dussumieria acuta), scads (Decapturus ruselli, D. macrosoma) and, to a less extent, anchovies (Engraulis japonicus, Stolephorus indicus). Their main distribution areas are off the northeast coast, and part of these stocks make seasonal migrations into the regions between Ras Mabber and Ras Asseir. Outside these two regions they are scattered and do not form a basis for any fishery. They are also exploited by a great number of foreign-flag vessels from distant-water fishing fleets, as well as by national deep-water vessels. The states of the stocks are unknown, and catch reports are unreliable. Their seasonal abundance is estimated at between 120 000 and 200 000 t.

Demersal species

There are several hundred demersal fish species taken by the artisanal fisheries. Diversity is highest in the coral reef region from Adale to the Kenyan border. The main commercial species groups are scavengers (Lethrinidae), groupers (Serranidae), snappers (Lutjanidae), grunts (Pomadasidae) and seabreams (Sparidae). Of less importance are threadfin breams (Nemipteridae), lizard fish (Synodontidae), and goatfish (Mullidae). These commercial demersal species make important contributions to the artisanal fishing sector all along the coast. Accessible stocks are estimated at about 40 000 t of large demersal species, and 30 000 t of sharks and rays. Except for sharks, demersal stocks have been lightly exploited by the artisanal fishery sector. Owing to their very limited migration, these species can support a year-round fishery. Also, sharks and rays (Elasmobranchs) play an important role in Somali traditional fishery. They often represent 40% of total artisanal fishery production (especially in the southern and central areas).

Sharks

The shark species of interest are hammerheads (Sphyrnidae), grey sharks (Carcharhinidae) and mako (Lamnidae). They are heavily exploited by both the artisanal and the industrial fishery sectors, with associated competition. The current fishery status of these species is unknown, but they are considered to be overexploited, as catches have declined over the past few years. No research has been conducted on this matter, which deserves utmost attention, to avoid a sudden and unexpected collapse in stocks of these valuable species.

Lobsters

Spiny lobsters of the genus Panulirus are exploited all along the coastline. They are mainly caught by divers in shallow waters, and occasionally by fishermen using large-mesh nets. The highest densities are found among the coral reefs of the southeast coast. Two species of deep-sea lobsters are also exploited by the industrial fishery sector, Puerulus swelli, and P. carrinatus, which are mainly found at depths between 150 m and 400 m along the east coast. Exploitation of Panulirus species by the artisanal fishery sector is light, while exploitation of the deep-sea lobsters by the industrial sector is unknown, but stocks are thought to have been heavily exploited.

Fishery communities structure

The main fishery areas are divided into seven main zones, based on major cities and towns: Kismayo, Mogadishu, Eil, Bargal, Bolimog, Las Korey and Berbera.

Fishermen communities are largely made up of traditional fishermen, living in about 50 fishing villages and towns all along the coast from the Kenyan border to Djibouti. However, the largest concentrations are found along the southeast coast (Mogadishu and Lower Shabelle areas), where population density is highest.

Fishermen fully engaged (primary sector) in artisanal and industrial fisheries are estimated at about 30 000. In addition, part-time fishermen seasonally engaged in the fishery sector are estimated at about 60 000. Also, due to the civil war, there have been internal displacements, which have affected some parts of the coastal fishery communities, especially along the Benadir, Lower Shabelle and Lower Juba regions, and most of the fishing communities have either fled across the Kenyan border or have fled and resettled in other regions of the country where they felt safe.

Industrial Sector

In the mid-1970s, deep-sea trawling was carried out by SOMALFISH, a Somali/USSR joint venture commercial fishing company, with 10 factory trawlers of about 680 GRT. This industrial fishery partnership ended in late November 1977, and annual fishery production dropped abruptly from a peak of 3 400 t of fish and 150 t of crustaceans, mainly deep-sea lobsters, to 235 t and 20 t, respectively, in 1978. Since then several foreign fishing companies have been given fishing licences to fish in the offshore EEZ of Somalia. Such licences are issued by the Ministry of Fishery and Marine Resources, and recipients have included Italian, Korean, Spanish, Japanese, Greek and Egyptian vessels. Another joint-venture industrial fishing operation was established between Somalia and an Italian high seas fishing company in 1983 – Somali High Seas Fishing Company (SHIFCO) – operating 5 stern trawlers and 1 freezer mothership for transport of the fishery products to distant marketing outlets (mainly Italy). This national joint-venture fishing fleet is still flying the Somali flag, and still fishing in the Somali EEZ, but they are based and land their fishery products outside the country. During the pre-war era, industrial fishery production was lowest in 1982, with 3 900 t of fish and 436 t of lobster reported, and highest in 1985, when production reached 11 940 t of fish and 462 t of lobster.

FISH STOCKS ARE REPLENISHING THANKS TO THE SOMALI VIGILANTE COASTGUARD see video http://bcove.me/azlzq2bk

[Xusein]

The fact that Somalis only use 1-2% of the sea's potential makes me sad to see it at waste. We could be a great fishing nation like Japan or Chile.

[BUTEMBO21]

You have one of the best natural resources. Your "people that are business minded". so large coast , strategic location.

[Xusein]

Indeed. But that is also a curse. Somalia's strategic location keeps it in the eyes of outsiders for bad things. And while having a business minded population is a great thing, it is also a issue because many entrepreneurial people tend to er, be harder to tame with competition high enough to be counter to innovation. Like many other African nations, Somalia's resources and advantages can also be a curse.

[BUTEMBO21]

Originally Posted by Xusein

Indeed. But that is also a curse. Somalia's strategic location keeps it in the eyes of outsiders for bad things. And while having a business minded population is a great thing, it is also a issue because many entrepreneurial people tend to er, be harder to tame with competition high enough to be counter to innovation. Like many other African nations, Somalia's resources and advantages can also be a curse.

I agree, and think we have those in common (resources and Location wise). except that you Somalis are more business minded that we are (% wise).Our resources that we have is so huge, but its our curse again.

[Waranle]

Oil, gas, uranium, other minerals, and a massive coast. Seems like the future is bright for Somalia when peace comes.

[juzme123]

Originally Posted by Waranle

Oil, gas, uranium, other minerals, and a massive coast. Seems like the future is bright for Somalia when peace comes.

Even over the long term the green-energy potential is simply amazing. especially tidal (3,300km coast, 2 long rivers) and wind energy (3,300km coast) as well as solar energy.

[èđđeůx]

Originally Posted by Xusein

The fact that Somalis only use 1-2% of the sea's potential makes me sad to see it at waste. We could be a great fishing nation like Japan or Chile.

Is that due to illegal fishing by foreigners (causing overfishing), pollution of Somali waters (killing of sea life), etc.? Or..is seafood just not a staple food in the Somali diet?

[Xusein]

Originally Posted by Waranle

Oil, gas, uranium, other minerals, and a massive coast. Seems like the future is bright for Somalia when peace comes.

+1

[Constantine MMX]

The scent of Oil in Punt is giving wealthy expat Somali business tycoons itchy fingers it seems!

The joys of investing in Somaliland

AFRICAN DREAM - 24 January 2012 Last updated at 17:03

Mr Yusef says potential profits are higher in Somaliland than London

"How are you going to make money in a country that doesn't even exist?" That was probably the question that many people had at the back of their minds when Mohammed Yusef told them he would invest in Somaliland.

Others perhaps did not even know Somaliland had declared independence from Somalia in 1991 and that, in spite of not having been recognised internationally, it does have - unlike Somalia - a working political system and a strong business sector.

Mr Yusef of course knew. Although he now manages a very successful investment firm in the United Kingdom, Invicta Capital Limited, he has always kept in touch with the land where he was born six decades ago, while it still was a British protectorate.

"If what my parents say is true, I always had a mentality for trade, for business, and it's not inconsistent with the family history because the family originated from a fishing village on the Gulf of Aden," he told the BBC's series African Dream.

"My great-grandfather was one of those people that would trade with Aden."

Mr Yusef was educated in the UK where he trained as a solicitor and practiced as a commercial lawyer before starting his own law practice specializing in commercial law, copyright and media law in London.

In 1999 he founded Invicta, a private equity firm providing finance for the media, commercial property and renewable energy sectors which, according to its website, has raised over £1.4bn ($2.3bn) of investment capital.

Minding the gap

His Somaliland business is handled through a company called Prime Resources which has a staff of nine people in Hargeisa, the capital.

According to him, the firm has invested in mining, and oil and gas exploration and is about to embark on a $40m exploration programme. It is also evaluating business opportunities in Somalia in the agricultural and property sectors.

"When I first started looking at investment in Somaliland even my professional colleagues would say: 'You're mad. This doesn't make any sense'," he remembers.

"Not only did they confuse Somaliland with Somalia but it does have the problem of being an unrecognised country," he told the BBC's Mary Harper.

"But actually nobody ever made money from following the herd and the most money is often to be made where there is a mismatch between what people perceive to be the place and the reality of what it is, and Somaliland is exactly in those kinds of circumstances where there is a huge gap between the reality and the perception."

"So actually there is a method to my madness and it isn't inconsistent with the basic principles of business: Go find yourself a situation that nobody else has spotted and be prepared to hang on in there while everybody else catches up."

"There is no inconsistency between what we look for when we invest in an opportunity here [in London] and what we look for over there, except that the potential rewards in Somaliland are far greater, ironically."

The Hollywood connection

Mr Yusef's first business venture was buying and selling a film library.

"I was lucky in that I knew who my buyer was going to be, so it was one of those crazy situations where I knew I could buy for X and sell for Y," he said.

"In many ways, it's the worst first lesson to have in business because you run away with the idea that business is actually quite easy."

However, this experience was probably helpful to him when, later, he decided to specialise in structured film financing.

Invicta has been involved in the financial side of many successful film projects, including Wallace & Grommit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Da Vinci Code and James Bond's Casino Royale.

Although now he manages big money, Mr Yusef says that he started with very little.

"I had enough capital to pay the rent of an office for six months. I think it was enough to pay the secretary and assistant. That was it.

"But it didn't take much. It never takes much. Not having money is never really the obstacle, it's the excuse."

'Fascinating people'

Mr Yusef says that for him one of the most exciting things about his business is meeting people. The biggest driver for people in business, if you look at it, is the creative drive, to create something from nothing and step back and say: 'That was nothing then, look at it now'”

He believes that it is often easier to get to know others in stressful situations because they cannot "keep their pretences up for very long".

He also takes delight in the intellectual challenges offered by his job.

"Every situation is different from the last. And the mistake often made is to assume 'Oh, I know how that story is going to end'. So there's always that tension - positive stress is what I call it - that keeps one going," he says.

"After a while, it may sound a bit glib to say this, the money motive isn't the main driver. Once you've reached a certain level of security - you've paid the mortgage if you still had one and taken care of the basics of life, and you can afford one or two luxuries - people who accumulate businesses and business interests just to make more money are a little bit unwell, I think.

"The biggest driver for people in business, if you look at it, is the creative drive, to create something from nothing and step back and say: 'That was nothing then, look at it now'. I'm sure that's the key motivator for most people who are successful in business."

And what advice would he give to someone who wants to start in business?

"Control your fear and never give up because you will fail more than you succeed, and I think that's the thing that my father taught me more than anything else, and that's that ultimately you will prevail if you take your losses as well as your successes and learn from the losses. We learn nothing from success and everything from failure.

"I think the thing that separates the natural businessman and, let's say, a business consultant, is the tenacity that is required. Many people give up on their dreams and their ideas faster than they should, and even when they do fail, they should figure out why they failed and then look for the next opportunity."

African Dream is broadcast on the BBC Network Africa programme every Monday morning. - Source

I find his story very inspiring. Agriculture and property today, mining and oil-exploration tommorow!

[abesha]

You should post him in the Somali entrepreneurs thread. Very ambitious guy!

[Constantine MMX]

Originally Posted by abesha

You should post him in the Somali entrepreneurs thread. Very ambitious guy!

I would, unfortunately his investment plans only cover Somalia and Europe, and that topic is strictly for Somali entrepreneurs and companies with investments in other parts of Africa excluding Somalia.

[abesha]

Ah ok.

[juzme123]

Has anyone heard about gold recently being discovered (also by a canadian company) near Arabsiyo ?

I did some digging and found out that some some previous prospecting had been carried out in the 80's in the same vicinity.

There was production of salt with solar evaporation methods, mining of meerschaum (sepiolite), mining of limestone for cement, and some exploitation of some of the world's largest deposits of gypsum-anhydrite and of quartz and piezoquartz (useful for electronics). Somalia also has some large uranium deposits and in 1984 work began to develop them. There are also large iron ore deposits. Results of testing for gold in the Ceelbuur area in Galguduud Region and Arabsiyo area near Hargeysa had not been published as of early 1992.

In addition to its farming importance, it also emerged during the test carried out in the 1980s by the then government that there are signs of Gold gemstones presence in Arabsiyo and its surroundings.

[Janub]

Originally Posted by juzme123

Has anyone heard about gold recently being discovered (also by a canadian company) near Arabsiyo ?

I did some digging and found out that some some previous prospecting had been carried out in the 80's in the same vicinity.

http://www.fdi.net/documents/WorldBa...AR/Somalia.pdf

^ In this World Bank-sponsored journal, it verifies one of your quotes that stated Galguduud and Waqoyi were likely to yield gold reserves.

[juzme123]

Somalia which is often wrongly labelled as 'desert country' and famous for the Berbera Blackhead/Somali Sheep, has one of the largest numbers of livestock in the world, including the largest number of camels in the world. With this comes immense potential for meat, dairy products, leather products, hides and skins etc. The unique thing, which could perhaps be marketed as a USP, is that the meat from Somali livestock is pretty much organic. In the last decade or so we have seen some notable developments in the livestock industry of Somalia - notably the introduction of vetinary institutions and labratories near the major exporting ports, which has allowed for the easy certification of the livestock and thereby enabled easier access to markets.


"About 43% of the camels, 10% of sheep, 5% of goats and 2% of cattle, of the livestock population of Africa, are found in Somalia alone". It is all about adding value/ value maximisation. Note: Camels are sold for a min. of $1,000 per head on the market nowadays (the Somali livestock market has +7 million Camels).

Somali/Berbera Blackhead Sheep

[juzme123]

Rivers of Somalia

The Jubba basin region is primarily savanna, and is, ecologically speaking, the richest part of the country due to its fertile farmland. Native wild life include giraffes, cheetahs, lions, leopards, hyenas, buffalos, hippopotamus, crocodiles, oryx, gazelles, camels, ostriches, jackals and wild donkeys.

The Jubba River gives its name to the Somali administrative regions of Middle Juba and Lower Juba, as well as to the larger historical region of Jubaland. Major cities which the Jubba River passes by include Buale, Doollow, Luuq, Buurdhuubo, Beledhawo, Baardheere, Saakow, Kamasuma, and Goobweyn near Kismaayo.

The Shebelle River begins in the highlands of Ethiopia, and then flows southeast into Somalia towards Mogadishu. Near Mogadishu, it turns sharply southwest, where it follows the coast. Below Mogadishu, the river becomes seasonal. During most years, the river dries up near the mouth of the Jubba River, while in seasons of heavy rainfall, the river actually reaches the Jubba and thus the Indian Ocean.

Jubba River





Togdheer River

image hosted on flickr


Shabeelle River

[juzme123]

- On top of this all, Somalia has millions of hectares of fantastically fertile, black soil, farmland. In the past this country was an exporter of many agricultural products including bananas, cotton, tobacco, sugercane, tinned tomatoes, [processed] pasta and other products. Again, great potential.

image hosted on flickr

[juzme123]

Somalia has proven gas reserves and some oil has been recovered from previously drilled wells; its location means that it is only a question of how much oil and gas are to find underneath this land. Natural gas - proved reserves: 5.663 billion cu m.

Somalia surrounded by Oil: