The pirates didn't start the practice of abusing lawlessness. After the civil war and the breakdown of the state, fishermen from other countries would illegally

The pirates didn't start the practice of abusing lawlessness. After the civil war and the breakdown of the state, fishermen from other countries would illegally trawl the waters off the Somali coast and industrial waste was being dumped by foreign opportunists. Just one instance involved 600 drums of radioactive waste from Europe and the US. This exacerbated the problem by reducing the fish supply further. Eventually, this led to violent clashes where Somali fishermen would take over ships in the area illegally for ransom. This quickly became the piracy industry as we know it.