Modern Piracy on the High Seas

Scratch · Nov 13, 2009

Some news on the anti-piracy front:
The french struck again, this time -it appears- on a random piracy mothership they found on the high seas. An aggressive new strategy, and one that I think may prove a lot more efficiant if continiued. Activly seeking these ships and hunting them down.

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French Navy Storms Pirate Ship, Arrests 12

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE - Published: 13 Nov 2009 08:48

PARIS - French commandos stormed aboard a Somali pirate "mothership" and arrested 12 gunmen, the military announced Nov. 13, adding that the gangs are increasingly operating in the deep waters of the Indian Ocean.

Tipped off by spotters on a Luxembourg maritime reconnaissance plane, the French frigate Floreal intercepted a dhow towing two motorized skiffs 500 nautical miles northwest of the Seychelles on Nov. 12.

A helicopter from the warship fired a warning shot across the vessel's bows as its crew began to throw incriminating material over the side. French troops boarded the ship and arrested the pirates without violence.

On board, they found grappling hooks, GPS navigation devices and assault rifles, said French military spokesman Adm. Christophe Prazuck. ...

Ambivalent · Nov 15, 2009

A Luxembourg maritime patrol plane? Oh my! Everyone is down there fighting pirates.
I'm noticing how many merchant ships are now able to evade these attacks.

Ambivalent · Nov 15, 2009

bd popeye said:
USN/USCG team capture Somali pirates.

[qimg]http://i44.tinypic.com/f1xlsl.jpg[/qimg]

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hi-res

[qimg]http://i43.tinypic.com/168ued4.jpg[/qimg]

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hi-res

[qimg]http://i41.tinypic.com/2nvs5e9.jpg[/qimg]

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hi-res

Be sure to use the hi-res link(download) to see the pirate boat up close and personal.

When caught red handed, these ships should be straight out sunk. No questions asked. No one actually puts these pirates in prison anywhere, they arrest them, question them then release them. Kill them by sinking the ships and boats if you catch them in the act. Quite screwing around.

Finn McCool · Nov 15, 2009

Ambivalent said:
I'v asked myself the same question. You would be blockading and searching all manner of tiny coastal villages. For these Somali pirates, going out in a small boat as a pirate is an income to them like fishing. It's what they do. They come home from raids to mostly small coastal villages where they pull their boats up on a beach. What are we, the US or China, or any other maritime nation, going to do? Put troops ashore and search each village. Blackhawk Down all over again but perhaps someone else's helo this time? Mine what? With what kind of mine? I have asked myself that too. What kind of mine works against their small boats? Or, do you sew land mines all around these villages and on the beaches where they pull their boats up when they are ashore? Imagine the visuals when an "innocent" Somali "fisherman" looses a leg to a land mine.
I'd vote for sinking the motherships in a New York nanosecond, but remember the time the Indian Navy did exactly that and ended up sinking a Thai fishing vessel taken over by the Somali pirates, with the Thai crew still aboard. Tough call, isn't it. The US could put UAV's to work, flying from Oman or maybe Djibouti, but right now they are busy elsewhere and there aren't enough to meet wartime demands.

Piracy is a crime in international waters and the naives of the world would be well within their rights to shoot pirates on sight, to blockade their onshore bases or even to go ashore and kill them there. However I would just like to remind everyone that the pirates are not one-dimensional villains.

Piracy in Somalia largely arose as a response to the fact that non-Somali ships were misusing Somali waters because there was no government to stop them. The fish stocks that these former fisherman pirates used to depend on have been fished out by foreign trawlers that come into the area with no restrictions on how much they can catch or what they use to do it. Furthermore, unscrupulous companies from all over the world dump waste in Somali waters, lots of which is radioactive, and this has had an affect on the population of coastal villages in Somalia. A lot of pirates see themselves as defending Somalia's waters, the traditional source of their livelihoods, from these sort of violations. And they've never intentionally killed hostages. In fact if I remember correctly no one has ever died (except for one heart attack victim) in a pirate attack of Somalia except for cases in which hostage rescues were done. Lastly, the international shipping and insurance companies actually make money off of piracy, because the rate increases it causes generate profit far exceeding the money lost to the occasional hijacking.

I'm not saying that if someone is trying to hijack your ship you shouldn't shoot them, but I am saying that Somali pirates are in no way the moral equivalent of, for example, Al Qaeda terrorists. They've been made out to be quite the menace for people that haven't actually killed anyone. Unfortunately, there is no Somali government to control the waters of Somalia and no international navy is going to pay to station ships to protect Somali fisheries.

Ambivalent · Nov 15, 2009

Finn McCool said:
Piracy is a crime in international waters and the naives of the world would be well within their rights to shoot pirates on sight, to blockade their onshore bases or even to go ashore and kill them there. However I would just like to remind everyone that the pirates are not one-dimensional villains.

Piracy in Somalia largely arose as a response to the fact that non-Somali ships were misusing Somali waters because there was no government to stop them. The fish stocks that these former fisherman pirates used to depend on have been fished out by foreign trawlers that come into the area with no restrictions on how much they can catch or what they use to do it. Furthermore, unscrupulous companies from all over the world dump waste in Somali waters, lots of which is radioactive, and this has had an affect on the population of coastal villages in Somalia. A lot of pirates see themselves as defending Somalia's waters, the traditional source of their livelihoods, from these sort of violations. And they've never intentionally killed hostages. In fact if I remember correctly no one has ever died (except for one heart attack victim) in a pirate attack of Somalia except for cases in which hostage rescues were done. Lastly, the international shipping and insurance companies actually make money off of piracy, because the rate increases it causes generate profit far exceeding the money lost to the occasional hijacking.

I'm not saying that if someone is trying to hijack your ship you shouldn't shoot them, but I am saying that Somali pirates are in no way the moral equivalent of, for example, Al Qaeda terrorists. They've been made out to be quite the menace for people that haven't actually killed anyone. Unfortunately, there is no Somali government to control the waters of Somalia and no international navy is going to pay to station ships to protect Somali fisheries.

Patrolling to protect shipping from pirates or patrolling to protect maritime resources would seem to be equally costly for the international navies now operating off of Somalia. It strikes me there is quite a bit of opportunity for a diplomatic resolution that involves Somali's swearing off piracy in exchange for some international maritime patrol to protect Somali waters from the predations you described. Certainly they are not the first nation to see it's waters fished clean by a foreign fishing fleet. It could be undertaken as a UN mission. I don't imagine for a second it would be an easily reached agreement, however.

Finn McCool · Nov 15, 2009

Ambivalent said:
Patrolling to protect shipping from pirates or patrolling to protect maritime resources would seem to be equally costly for the international navies now operating off of Somalia. It strikes me there is quite a bit of opportunity for a diplomatic resolution that involves Somali's swearing off piracy in exchange for some international maritime patrol to protect Somali waters from the predations you described. Certainly they are not the first nation to see it's waters fished clean by a foreign fishing fleet. It could be undertaken as a UN mission. I don't imagine for a second it would be an easily reached agreement, however.

It would cost probably about the same, yes. But what navy wants to volunteer to be the Coast Guard of the world's poorest nation? Patrolling for pirates is a "military" mission, and it scores political points. But what democratic nation is going to volunteer to spend money and send it's boys overseas to protect Somali fishing stocks?

Ambivalent · Nov 21, 2009

Finn McCool said:
It would cost probably about the same, yes. But what navy wants to volunteer to be the Coast Guard of the world's poorest nation? Patrolling for pirates is a "military" mission, and it scores political points. But what democratic nation is going to volunteer to spend money and send it's boys overseas to protect Somali fishing stocks?

Yeah, it isn't sexy like killing them is. Aren't we an amazing creature?

lcloo · Nov 21, 2009

Normally in areas infested with pirates, the follwoing scenario are very common.

1. Poverty - pirates usually originated from poor fishing villages, example, Somalia, Sumatra island and Riao in Indonesia. Hong Kong was once a pirate heaven, today's prosperity and law enforcement in that territory has eradicate the bad guys.

There were pirates from the Malaysian coastal villages along the Malacca Straits in 1970 and 1980, today we don't spot them no more as the fishermen's incomes have gone up. However, there is huge income disparity on the Indonesia side of the straits, and thus most pirates are Indonesians.

No nation wants to enrich others with-out returns in monentary or political gains. So, they have to work out some thing where everyone gains, especially the poor fishemen. Pirates normally go for money, they have no interest in politics.

2. No law enforcement. Where there is lack of law enforcement due to either breakkdown of government or corruption, the pirates gathered in groups, planned and attacks with ease.

Corruption in other nations are hard to deal with, political pressure may do some good. In Somalia's case, I think their UN representative government should be urged to give up and surrender their sea control rights to UN for a limited period or until piracy has ease. UN members shall be given power to board, arrest and jail pirates in Somalia waters and in land areas within stipulated distance from the coast line.

Cash and material contribution to UN patrol and enforcement is expensive, but there is no other ways.

Attending to the symptoms as in current naval operations helps, but to make piracy disappear eradicate the roots of problem is the answer.

Ambivalent · Nov 22, 2009

lcloo said:
Normally in areas infested with pirates, the follwoing scenario are very common.

1. Poverty - pirates usually originated from poor fishing villages, example, Somalia, Sumatra island and Riao in Indonesia. Hong Kong was once a pirate heaven, today's prosperity and law enforcement in that territory has eradicate the bad guys.

There were pirates from the Malaysian coastal villages along the Malacca Straits in 1970 and 1980, today we don't spot them no more as the fishermen's incomes have gone up. However, there is huge income disparity on the Indonesia side of the straits, and thus most pirates are Indonesians.

No nation wants to enrich others with-out returns in monentary or political gains. So, they have to work out some thing where everyone gains, especially the poor fishemen. Pirates normally go for money, they have no interest in politics.

2. No law enforcement. Where there is lack of law enforcement due to either breakkdown of government or corruption, the pirates gathered in groups, planned and attacks with ease.

Corruption in other nations are hard to deal with, political pressure may do some good. In Somalia's case, I think their UN representative government should be urged to give up and surrender their sea control rights to UN for a limited period or until piracy has ease. UN members shall be given power to board, arrest and jail pirates in Somalia waters and in land areas within stipulated distance from the coast line.

Cash and material contribution to UN patrol and enforcement is expensive, but there is no other ways.

Attending to the symptoms as in current naval operations helps, but to make piracy disappear eradicate the roots of problem is the answer.

So true. So difficult too.

bd popeye · Nov 22, 2009

The battle against the Somalia pirates continues..

A Portuguese marines team of the navy frigate NRP "Álvares Cabral" intercepted and inspected a skiff and identified the five suspect pirates, while gathering several operational information, Gulf of Aden, Somalia, 19 November 2009

Modern Piracy on the High Seas

Scratch

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