Rash of piracy began as an environmental problem

The world's attention has been riveted by high-seas drama in the Gulf of Aden, where pirates have taken several vessels, including the Sirius Star, a Saudi supertanker with $100 million worth of oil on board. This year, 92 ships have been attacked in the area, and 14 are still being held with about 250 crew members. But this is not a matter of simple banditry; it started as an environmental problem.

The waters off Somalia were rich in tuna when the country's government dissolved in 1991. To defend their diminishing fishery against outsiders, Somali fishermen started patrolling the fishing grounds as a self-styled coast guard. It seems that rather than expel foreign fishing vessels, the Somali fishermen collected fees.

Since then fish stocks have plummeted worldwide, shipping has exploded and ships have become much easier and rewarding to catch than fish. And while it's unlikely that all of today's Somali pirates got their start fishing, the gangs couldn't function without the knowledge and seamanship of those who did.

This is a problem we could see replayed out on a global scale as fishing becomes more difficult everywhere.

Fishing on the high seas and in unpatrolled coastal areas is a free-for-all. Regulated fisheries -- with a few exceptions -- are not a lot better. Quotas are exceeded, stocks decimated and fishermen driven to extremes in the attempt to wrest a living from the ocean.

Scientists say the blue fin tuna catch should be limited to 15,000 tons a year. The international body that "regulates" the fishery gives out around 30,000 tons in quotas under heavy political pressure, and the actual catch is thought to be closer to 60,000 tons. This fish will soon go the way of the commercially extinct Atlantic cod.

And the fishermen?

Clearly they don't all become pirates when fisheries crash. But in places like Somalia and Nigeria, piracy is an attractive option due to lawless waters, ship traffic and lack of other opportunities. The environmental costs of mismanaged fisheries, therefore, go much further than the damage to fish species and their ecosystems.

Costs include ransom payments that so far run in the low seven figures. The price for the Sirius Star is expected to be much higher. Other costs include those incurred by warships chasing the pirates, the expected spike in shipping insurance and $30,000 per day detours around the trouble spots. All told, the environmental cost of over-fishing could easily outstrip the value of the fish.

The same indignation shared by world leaders at the pirates' audacity must be turned on one of its root causes -- the strip mining of the sea that is quickly eliminating the possibility of making an honest livelihood from it.

Political leaders need to let scientists set catch limits and establish "no-take" reserves. Governments should stop subsidizing boats and gear and use market mechanisms such as individual tradeable quotas to give fishermen stronger economic incentives for sustainable management.

The good news is that there are well-run fisheries in places such as Alaska and New Zealand where some of these measures have been adopted.

It can be done, but needs to be done while the fishermen are still fishing.

(John Reid, a Sebastopol resident, is president and founder of Conservation Strategy Fund, which trains environmentalists in ways of using economics to conserve nature.)