PIRACY SLOWLY KILLING NIGERIAN COASTAL FISHING

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 03 LAGOS 000409

SIPDIS

DOC FOR 3317/ITA/OA/KBURRESS
DOC FOR 3130/USFC/OIO/ANESA/DHARRIS
STATE PASS USTR FOR USTR AGAMA
STATE PASS USAID FOR GWEYNAND AND SLAWAETZ
STATE PASS OPIC FOR ZHAN AND MSTUCKART
STATE PASS TDA FOR LFITT, PMARIN
STATE PASS EXIM FOR JRICHTER
STATE PASS AF/RSA FOR MCCARTY
STATE PASS OES FOR HOGAN
STATE PASS NOAA FOR DKLEMM

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/10/2018
TAGS: PGOV ECON NOAA EPA FWS NI
SUBJECT: PIRACY SLOWLY KILLING NIGERIAN COASTAL FISHING
INDUSTRY

REF: LAGOS 384

Classified By: Consul General Donna M. Blair, Reasons 1.4 (B,D)

1.(SBU) Summary: According to the Nigerian Trawler Owner's
Association (NITOA),the incidence and violence of attacks on
the Nigerian coastal fishing fleet has increased
substantially in the last five years and particularly sharply
in 2008 causing roughly 65% of operators to quit the business
over this period. The fishing fleet receives neither
effective protection nor support from the Nigerian security
forces. Nigeria's rich fishing areas with significant
potential to supply both domestic and foreign markets, are
underexploited, increasing unemployment and reducing foreign
exchange earnings. The ineffectiveness of the Nigerian
authorities suggests either incompetence or perhaps
complicity, at least at a local level. End Summary.

Piracy Increasing in Frequency and Violence
--------------


2. (SBU) In a meeting on October 7, the executive council of
NITOA described to Poloff the increasing threat of piracy to
the Nigerian fishing industry. (Note: the International
Maritime Organization (IMO) defines piracy only as those
attacks occurring on the high seas, however, the
International Maritime Bureau (IMB) includes all waterborne
criminal activities regardless of where they occur. End
Note.) NITOA president, Margaret Orakwusi, expressed concern
that international attention is focused exclusively on
attacks against oil supply vessels and ignores the plight of
coastal fishing companies. The NITOA members pointed out
that fishing trawlers are particularly vulnerable to piracy
due to the fact that when trawling their nets, their vessels
have a speed of just three to four knots and hauling in their
equipment takes considerable time; even when not actually
trawling, fishing vessels generally can not travel at a speed
of more than eight knots and so cannot escape attackers using
high-speed, small craft. NITOA presented statistics showing
that the number of attacks on their vessels have increased
from four in 2003 to 55 in 2007 and have topped 70 incidents
in the first nine months of this year. Fatalities have also
increased dramatically from 2 in 2007 to 10 this year
already.

Two Types of Attacks Experienced by Trawlers
--------------


3. (SBU) NITOA stressed that their fleet was subject to
essentially two kinds of attacks, assaults and hijackings.
Assaults are most common and entail one or more small,
high-powered open boats containing men armed with automatic
weapons and in some cases explosives boarding the fishing
vessels, and then beating and terrorizing the crew. The
assailants take any cash they can find on board, valuables
from the crew, electronic equipment such as the vessel's GPS,
depth sounder, radio, radar etc. and the catch. All
fatalities and serious injuries have occurred in this kind of
incident, and crews have reported various forms of arbitrary
humiliation and torture while beatings are common. In one
case, the assailants remained aboard a trawler for more than
three days and steamed more 150 nautical miles, using the
captured vessel as a means to approach other fishing trawlers
without attracting suspicion in order to carry out at total
of 15 attacks.


4. (SBU) Hijackings are comparatively rare (just three
incidents this year) and are characterized by comparatively
good treatment of the crews while held, and release of crew
and restoration of the vessel intact to the owner after

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payment of the demanded ransom. According to the released
crews, the hijacked vessels were all taken to creeks in
Bayelsa state for the duration of the hijacking, and the
crews were taken to camps. Returned crewmen reported that
the camps were very well organized and well-stocked with
food, various international currencies and "warehouses full
of arms." Furthermore, according to released crewmen, the
hostage takers and Nigerian security forces appeared to be in
communication with one another. In addition to the
hijackings, many coastal communities demand payment for the
"right" to fish off their coastline.

Domestic Markets, ForEx Earnings and Employment Affected
-------------- --------------


5. (SBU) Over the past five years the number of Nigerian
trawler operators has fallen from 45 to just 15 and the
number of fishing vessels operating under Nigerian flag has
been reduced from roughly 250 to 170 primarily due to piracy.
This has had an impact both on the fish available in the
domestic market and foreign exchange earnings from fishing,
particularly shrimp, NITOA's principal product. NITOA
estimated that this year only 10 per cent of Nigeria's
quality shrimp stocks will be fished. Foreign sales of
shrimp used to represent Nigeria's second largest non-oil
foreign exchange earner, but according to NITOA they no
longer fall among the top-ten earners. As the fleet shrinks,
jobs are lost both at sea and on shore.

GON Unable or Unwilling to Address Problem
--------------


6. (C) Despite some high-level expressions of concern on the
part of the Nigerian Navy and Nigerian Maritime and Safety
Administration (NIMASA),including at an International
Conference on Piracy and Armed Robbery at Sea held in Abuja
in April, NITOA does not feel the Nigerian government is
responding to its concerns. NITOA members decried the fact
that on numerous occasions, they or their captains have
provided the Nigerian Navy with precise information as to the
location of pirates, but in no instance did they receive a
timely response. NITOA claims that no pirates involved in
trawler attacks have been stopped, pursued or captured by the
Nigerian Navy. NITOA pointed out that small craft with
out-board motors are often not registered, making it
impossible to track the boats used in the attacks. Even
where registration numbers could be noted, no action was
taken against the owners of the boats involved. Similarly, no
action has been taken against the coastal markets that sell
stolen equipment and/or produce from the attacked vessels, or
against the more than 60 camps which NITOA claims to have
been identified along the coast from which the pirates
operate. Notably, ransom payments for hijacked vessels and
crews have been made into bank accounts held at reputable
banking institutions, raising questions about Nigeria's
compliance with money laundering laws, NITOA commented. Last
but not least, NITOA lamented the absence of effective
air-sea rescue operations in Nigerian waters. In instances
where seriously injured crewmen needed emergency medical
treatment, the trawler operators received no timely response
to their distress calls and had to organize their own
transportation to hospital. (Note: During a recent visit by
the USS Elrod that included training for Nigerian Navy rescue
operations, no Nigerian Navy vessel was able to put to sea
for the exercise. End Note.)


7. (C) Comment: Given growing concerns about both global
food supplies and fish reserves, the under-utilization of
Nigeria's rich fishing grounds has international
implications. It would benefit global fish markets and

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reduce pressure on other fishing grounds if the Nigerian
fishing stocks were being properly exploited. Even given the
notorious incapacity of the Nigerian Navy, it is hard to
believe that no action could be taken to discourage the
piracy, the extortion by coastal communities and the sale of
stolen goods from vessels. Particularly disturbing is the
ability of hostage takers to use accounts at commercial banks
for ransom payments with impunity. Given the picture drawn
by NITOA it is hard to avoid the suspicion of complicity on
the part of the local security forces in the armed attacks
against the trawlers.


8. This cable has been cleared by Abuja.
BLAIR