Türkiye throws Somalia a lifeline to catch illegal fishers

A long-term maritime agreement could boost Somalia’s naval capacity to curb illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing.

Published on 13 March 2025 in ISS Today

By

Samira Aden Abdi
Research Officer, East Africa Regional Organised Crime Observatory, ENACT, ISS Nairobi

Halkano Wario
East Africa Regional Organised Crime Observatory, ENACT, ISS Nairobi

Somalia loses around US$300 million annually to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing in its vast waters. Boasting Africa’s longest coastline – approximately 3 333 km along the northern Indian Ocean and Gulf of Aden – the country’s seas are highly lucrative for both legal and illegal fishing operations.

Weak governance, political instability and lack of effective law enforcement aggravate the illegal fishing problem. To address this, Türkiye and Somalia signed a memorandum of understanding in February 2024, establishing the Turkish Armed Forces as a partner in Somalia’s maritime security and law enforcement for the next 10 years.

Most illegal fishing in Somalia is carried out by foreign fishing vessels from countries like China, Iran, South Korea, Taiwan, Spain and other European nations. A Mogadishu-based researcher who requested anonymity said operators of some foreign vessels illegally obtained fishing licences.

‘There is no way for the government to know how much fish has been taken as they rarely report back,’ he said. ‘They process the fish and export to international markets.’

But the problem is also closer to home, with some federal member states, such as Puntland and Somaliland, issuing their own licences without consulting Somalia’s federal government.

In the early 2000s, with the near depletion of domestic stock due to illegal fishing, hundreds of Somali fishermen turned to highly risky but lucrative piracy to ‘protect’ the country’s resources and support their threatened livelihoods through ransom-taking.

Somalia will outsource protection of its territorial waters and marine resources to Türkiye for 10 years

Multinational naval force interventions helped eliminate the threat to Somalia’s coastal waters. This security was however disrupted in 2024 when signs of a potential resurgence emerged, partly linked to Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea.

In 2011, President Recep Erdogan, Türkiye’s prime minister at the time, made a historic visit to Somalia and reopened its embassy in the capital, Mogadishu. The ongoing relationship has been a game changer for Somalia, with Türkiye embarking on ambitious long-term investment plans while the rest of the world shunned the war-ravaged country.

Türkiye provided the largest amount of international aid in the wake of a severe drought in Somalia in 2011, and has invested over US$100 million in the country’s economy. These investments span specialised combat training schools, hospitals, educational institutions and municipal services.

More recently, Türkiye has invested in exploring and extracting vast hydrocarbon deposits off Somalia’s lengthy coastline. Turkish soft power, buoyed by cultural, historical and religious affinity with the Muslim-majority nation, appears to be paying off.

Under the terms of the latest deals between the two countries, Somalia will outsource the protection of its territorial waters and marine resources to Türkiye over the next 10 years. Türkiye will strengthen Somalia’s maritime security capabilities through training, joint operations, information sharing and naval acquisition.

The maritime pact is expected to offer Somalia’s naval forces the reconstruction, equipment and training needed to monitor and curb the rise of illegal fishing in its waters. In return, Türkiye should receive 30% of the revenue from Somalia’s exclusive economic zone and control of gas and oil explorations. Estimates show that Somalia has a potential of 30 billion barrels of oil and gas.

Türkiye has a strong track record of implementing capacity building in Somalia’s security sector

It is not known how the deal will impact the semi-autonomous region of Puntland and the breakaway Somaliland, which have similar arrangements with other regional powers.

Türkiye has a strong track record in implementing capacity building in Somalia’s security sector. This includes training elite units, establishing Camp TURKSOM (a Turkish military base), selling unmanned aerial vehicles to Somalia, operating Mogadishu’s main airport and seaport, and participating in counter-terrorism airstrikes against al-Shabaab.

That means Türkiye’s promise to build Somalia’s naval capacity will likely bear fruit – enhancing the latter’s ability to control its maritime zone, apprehend illegal vessels, curb toxic dumping and avert piracy in collaboration with Türkiye’s navy.

However, challenges still exist. A memorandum of understanding signed at the beginning of 2024 between landlocked Ethiopia and Somaliland could complicate the equation. Although the exact terms of the agreement are unclear, the gist is that in return for Ethiopia’s recognition of Somaliland, Ethiopia will get sea access and a military base in the strategic Gulf of Aden.

Somalia initially saw this as a violation of its sovereignty and demanded that Addis Ababa cancel the deal. In December 2024, Türkiye facilitated a meeting between Somalia and Ethiopia, and the resulting Ankara Declaration eased tensions between the two countries regarding sea access.

However, should Somalia try to extend its jurisdiction over Somaliland’s exclusive economic zone, the Türkiye-Somalia maritime cooperation agreement may exacerbate tensions.

The deal could irk powerful countries into scaling down their development support to Somalia

Somalia has been a site of intense competition between powerful countries, such as the United States, United Arab Emirates, Egypt, Qatar, the United Kingdom and China. Many of these states have invested in ports, health and education, counter-terrorism, security sector capacity support and infrastructural development.

These nations may not be impressed with the growing exclusive access Somalia has given to Türkiye. The Somalia-Türkiye deal could irk some into withdrawing or scaling down their crucial security sector and development support. This will slow Somalia’s pace of recovery.

An intricate balancing act will be needed to keep Türkiye focused on helping to curb illegal fishing while Somalia rebuilds a more peaceful future with its neighbours and other international partners.

This article was first published by ENACT.

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