Pirates: Not just for story books

Pirates have been all the rage lately.  From big hollywood box office hits,  popular Halloween costumes, to headline producing Somalian hijackings, pirates have been a topic in most households.  Did you know that within the overfishing dilemma  there are pirates as well?

It's true, illegal, unreported, unregulated fishing is a huge criminal problem that is contributing to overfishing.  This pirate fishing is another outlet of organized crime in which these pirate criminals have no respect for laws and boundaries within the oceans.  

     "Worth between US$10 -23.5 billion per year, it also presents a major loss of income to coastal        countries and coummunities. This is especially the case for some of the world's poorest countries, which depend on fishing for food, livelihoods and revenues. 

The poachers are also killing tens of thousands of marine animals as bycatch and destroying delicate habitats through their unregulated use of damaging, and sometimes illegal, fishing practices." (WWF)

Pirates aren't always, "yo ho ho and a bottle of rum".  This is a real problem.

http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/blue_planet/problems/problems_fishing/fisheries_management/illegal_fishing/