Sierra Leone: Pirates
By Andrew Porter
Piracy, Good or Bad
In Sierra Leone piracy is making a big effect on the people. There has been very little reports of actual pirates, but there is illegal pirate fishing. In Sierra Leone there has been a report of a attack on a Chinese freighter, and how the Sierra Leone Navy reacted. Also Sierra Leone looses millions of money on pirate fishing.
In November there was a report of a pirates attacking a Chinese fishing boat off the coast of Sierra Leone. Reporters say that this freighter was attacked by Sierra Leone Navy and killed four pirates. “The Pirates boarded the vessels and put the crew at gunpoint.” This is very surpising because who would have thought that so few of pirates could take over a ship with crew. This comes to show how intimidating it would be to have a gun shoved into your face. When the Sierra Leonian Navy had came they shot and killed 2 pirates and the two others drowned. A reporter stated that piracy is spreading throught Africa and that the Navies need more supplies to counter attack the pirates.
Not only is there a form of piracy that everyone thinks about but there is also a form of piracy called pirate fishing. This is illegal unregulated fishing. Sierra Leone is said to have the richest fishing grounds in the world. This country is being put at risk though because it has a small navy and cannot keep track of all the pirate fisherman. “Traditionally fish is an essential part of local cuisine but as a direct result of pirate fishing, fish consumption in Sierra Leone is rapidly declining.” This means that since the pirates are using all of their ground trollers, they are killing a lot of the fish in the area. Fish that come from these pirate fishers are extremely expensive.
Piracy in Sierra Leon is a issue to the people that live there. The reason why piracy is a problem is because it is becoming a spreading African problem. We have to help them to get bigger Navies and more supplies if we are going to have any chance at stopping this crisis.
BBC, “Sierra Leone Navy Battles Pirates” http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7753939.stm This was how I found that Sierra Leone was involved in the Piracy problem
"Pirate Fishing In Sierra Leone: How Illegal Deep Sea Fishing Is Keeping a Nation On Its Knees | Suite101.com" -http://sierra-leone.suite101.com/article.cfm/pirate_fishing_in_sierra_leone#ixzz0FwxbYRT0&A
This website helped me find out about pirate fishing
