Puntland Looks to Fisheries as a Growth Sector

Puntland is pursuing development of its fisheries sector, in waters that are among the most productive in the western Indian Ocean and among the least commercially exploited by the communities nearest to them.

The oceanography is favourable. Seasonal upwelling along the Somali coast brings nutrient-rich water to the surface, supporting large stocks of tuna, mackerel, snapper, lobster and shark. The Somali exclusive economic zone is correspondingly large.

The constraint has never been the resource. It is everything between the catch and the buyer. Cold-chain infrastructure is minimal, so fish landed in Bosaso or the smaller coastal settlements cannot reliably be kept at temperature until they reach a market. Processing capacity is limited. Certification for export to high-value markets requires traceability systems that mostly do not exist.

Illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing by foreign-flagged vessels has been a long-standing grievance along this coast, and was one of the stated motivations in the early piracy period of the late 2000s. Licensing and enforcement remain contested between federal and state authorities, which is itself a barrier to the investment that would make the sector viable.

The livelihood question runs alongside the commercial one. Coastal communities in Puntland have historically combined fishing with pastoralism, and drought that damages herds increases pressure on fisheries as a fallback.