Somalia's Fisheries Prospects

"Besides tropical fruit and vegetable cultivation, Northern Province and Juba Province possess more than 1,300 kilometers of coastline, yet fisheries development accounts for less than one percent of our economy. This is a tremendous waste. Fisheries development should be placed on the agenda," Northern Province official Rolman Karin told the mayor of Mogadishu city.

Developing the fisheries resources of the Somali Sea area had, in fact, always been something Rolman Karin could never put out of his mind. Rolman Karin himself came from Monfalcone, a small coastal city in Austria, and thus felt a strong sense of belonging toward the sea.

Mogadishu Mayor Kranis strongly agreed. Mogadishu had originally been a comprehensive port in East Africa, and fishing was one of Mogadishu city's major economic sources. It was merely that in recent years, more of Mogadishu Port's resources had been devoted to foreign trade vessels.

"Sir, developing fisheries resources requires essential facilities such as fishing vessels. In this regard, Mogadishu's shortcomings are glaring, especially in terms of resources. Perhaps we are naturally unsuited to industrial development," Kranis said.

Mogadishu's water supply mainly depended on the Shebelle River, but most of the Shebelle River's water was used for agricultural irrigation. From the very beginning, Ernst had not intended to develop industry in the Somalia region. Moreover, given Northern Province's status as a frontier province, East Africa was even less likely to build important industries here, unless they were agricultural product processing industries directly derived from agriculture.

Apart from insufficient water resources, Somalia was also relatively deficient in other resources. For instance, forest coverage stood at only around fifteen percent, mainly concentrated in the Ethiopian mountainous areas bordering Turkana Province. This was considered a low level in East Africa.

It was now the end of the nineteenth century. During the first half