Yemen's fishing industry incurred more than $150 million in losses in 2011 due to piracy, the news site Al-Watan reported Friday (June 29th).

Speaking at the Second International Counter-Piracy Conference in Dubai on Wednesday and Thursday, Yemen's foreign minister Abu Bakr al-Qirbi said marine piracy is a natural outcome of two decades of deteriorating political and security conditions in Somalia, as well as the spread of poverty and unemployment in the country.

Pirates hijacked scores of Yemeni commercial vessels and fishing ships, commandeering them at gunpoint and killing 15 Yemeni fishermen, he said.

Al-Qirbi reiterated his country's commitment to protecting its territorial waters and co-operating with countries seeking to establish security and stability in the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea and the Red Sea.