Somalia Issues New Maritime Regulations to Manage Vessels in its Waters

Somalia introduced a new shipping directive aimed at regulating the movement of vessels within its territorial waters. The new regulation was reported over the weekend by the state-owned media Somalia National News Agency (SONNA).

Going forward, vessels entering and operating within Somali national waters will be mandated to fly the Somali flag. In addition, ships transiting Somali waters must inform the country’s maritime regulator and comply with Ministry of Ports and Marine Transport regulations.

The new policy comes at a time when Somalia is trying to revive its maritime sector and assert sovereignty along its vast coastal region. Following years of civil unrest, Somalia had not updated its old 1989 marine law. This has left the country vulnerable to IUU (Illegal, Unreported, and Unregulated) fishing, with reports showing that Somalia loses an estimated $300 million annually from the exploitative trade.

Some observers believe that Somalia’s new maritime directive could be partly a response to the geopolitical tensions in the Horn of Africa. Recently, Ethiopia and Somalia’s breakaway region, Somaliland, signed an agreement on the use of Berbera port in the Gulf of Aden. This means Ethiopia’s vessels could have exclusive permission to use the port. The Berbera port does not mandate flying of the Somali flag, given Somaliland’s self-declared independence, creating uncertainty on how Mogadishu’s directive will play out in waters off Somaliland. Djibouti last week offered Ethiopia rights to the Port of Tadjourah as an alternative to the Somaliland deal.

Meanwhile, Somalia appears determined to assert control over its vast coastline following a defense and economic pact with Turkey, signed early this year. The defense agreement allows Turkey to train and equip the Somali navy for enhanced capabilities to curb terrorism, piracy, IUU fishing, and toxic waste dumping.

Without an effective naval force, Somalia’s coastline has become infamous for piracy. With the ongoing Houthi attacks in the Red Sea, Somalia is back in the limelight. Since last year, there has been a dramatic increase in piracy incidents along its coastline and reaching further east into the Indian Ocean. Somali pirates' capture of the Maltese-flagged bulker Ruen in December 2023 was the first successful hijacking of a commercial ship off the coast of Somalia since 2017 and was followed by other incidents both with small fishing boats and large merchant ships.

In addition, the state of Puntland last week reported it seized a cache of suicide drones believed to be linked to Al-Shabaab or ISIS-Somalia. The drones are thought to have been smuggled through Bosaso port. According to Puntland authorities, suicide drones are relatively new in Somalia and could alter the tactics of insurgent groups in the region. 

U.S. intelligence in June warned of a possible alliance between Al Shabaab and Houthi rebels in Yemen, who are currently targeting merchant shipping in the Gulf of Aden. 

The European Union launched its operation EUNAVFOR Atalanta in 2008. Prior to the emergence of the Houthi attacks and uptick in piracy in 2023, there had been efforts to scale back international efforts. The goal was to let Somalia take greater responsibility for regional security.