This handout photo released by the French Ministry of Defence shows French soldiers arresting presumed Somalian pirates in the Gulf of Aden. Photo: AFPFrom The Wall Street Journal:
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Pirate attacks world-wide more than doubled in the first half of 2009 amid a surge of raids on vessels in the Gulf of Aden and the east coast of Somalia, an international maritime watchdog said Wednesday.
The number of attacks rose to 240 between January and June, up from 114 incidents in the same period a year earlier, according to a report released by the International Maritime Bureau's piracy-reporting center in Kuala Lumpur.
Ships were boarded in 78 cases and 31 vessels were hijacked, with 561 crew taken hostage, 19 injured and six killed, the bureau said in its quarterly report. The attackers were heavily armed with guns or knives in most of the cases, it said.
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My Comment: With the rewards being great, and the risks being low, this terrorism on the high seas will continue.
The only way that piracy can be stopped is if the pirate's safe havens are no longer safe. But with a lack of will from the major powers to attack safe havens in Somalia (for example), this problem can then never go away.
The other option is arming ships with guards and weapons. While there are some international conventions on not supporting this, I predict that within the next year or two .... as piracy continues to increase and become more deadlier .... this option is going to be adopted by most if not all of the major sea faring nations.