1.
Upon entering Mogadishu harbour, the Al Amal was inspected by the Mogadishu port authority. The ship’s crew produced a one-year Puntland fishing license that ostensibly authorised it to fish in Somalia’s EEZ from 1 September 2014 until 1 September 2015. FGS officials subsequently contacted the Puntland Ministry of Fisheries and Marine Resources, which responded with a letter (available in annex 2.2.b) on 15 January 2015 to the FGS, declaring the license to be a forgery. The letter stated that Puntland only issues licenses for 45-day periods, and requested that the FGS hold the vessel so that Puntland authorities could take punitive action against it.
2. The agent listed on the license is “Cabdi Nuur”. “Cabdi Nuur”, also known as Abdinor, is based in Bosaso and is a “point man” of a network supplying licenses to Korean fishing vessels.
[1] “According to An Hyun Soo, fishing licenses for five of his vessels were purchased from this Dubai network, at prices ranging from USD 15,000 to USD 20,000 each.
[2]
1. The Monitoring Group has obtained a copy of the Puntland fishing license the
Al Amal was carrying at the time it ran aground, reproduced in annex 2.2.c. Similar to the license produced by
Al Amal’s crew upon inspection at Mogadishu port, this document was forged, with the fields containing the length of its validly, dates, and nationality of the vessel noticeably altered by computer. The dates on the license purport it to be valid from 25 November 2014 to 25 November 2015;
however, the license is signed and stamped by former Puntland Minister of Fisheries Mohamed Farah Adan, who had left his post by February 2014.