"Trawlers come here and sweep everything from our seas," Liban (alias) told Al Jazeera. "They take everythingโfish, lobsters, you name it. When we go out to sea, they shoot at us, wreck our boats, and stop us from feeding our families."
For weeks, Liban and his crew watched a Chinese vessel regularly fishing near the coast. Somali law bans fishing vessels from coming within 24 nautical miles (about 40km) of land. Liban said that around 3 AM on November 25th, when he and his crew attacked the Chinese vessel and disarmed two guards, the ship was only 2 nautical miles (about 3.2km) from the shore. This attack was reported as an act of piracy.
November 2024: Fisherman vigilantes (read: pirates) attacked and kidnapped Chinese fishermen who were fishing illegally in Somalia.
"Users are discussing the massive scale of Chinese illegal fishing fleets and joking about the vigilantes giving off major One Piece or pirate movie vibes."
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