PiracyatSea

Modern Day Piracy at Sea





The Introduction to Piracy at Sea Piracy has been occurring since the time of the great Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar. Piracy has changed by becoming more ruthless and violent. An example: The Somali pirates are the most threatening pirates of all time. These pirates have taken hostages, stolen vessels, and have stolen goods from all over the world. Piracy has been occurring all over the world except in the United States. The United States hasn’t had many occurrences with Piracy like countries such as China India, Somali, and many more countries. (“Piracy”) There have been many pirate groups throughout time: the Cilician pirates, Viking pirates, Barbary pirates, Muslim pirates, Somali pirates, and many more. Pirates usually try to plan attacks to take hostages and take vessels when ships are sending goods to trade with countries around the world or when they are traveling. An example: The Strait of Malacca because many pirates think that they are a excellent target to attack vessels with traded goods and take hostages for ransom between China and India. Throughout the time of the spice trade, the pirates over the globe have caused the traffic of shipping to increase. In the areas of South China, Pirates in the strait and the Andaman Seas have 40% of piracy. (“Piracy”) In the beginning of 1991, the country of Somalia had experienced violent turmoil for more than a decade. With the dictator of Somalia had prevented the country to form a new central government. There was a weak government that had formed in Somalia and it was called the transitional government. The government had soon regained power but the country of Somalia did not have a navy. Since there was no navy for Somalia, there was some or no protection to the vessels that passed through the waters of Somalia. There were many different efforts to help with Somalia such as the Combined Task Force 150, the MSPA, the United Nations Security Council and more. With these efforts to help in the Gulf of Aden, it had significantly increased in the year of 2008. (“Problems”) During the first decade of the 21st century, the Southeast Asia pirate acts began to drop rapidly. In Africa, the major target for the pirates is in the country if Nigeria because Nigeria has a burgeoning oil industry. Pirate rates in the countries, Somalia and Nigeria, have drastically increased. The country of Somalia has made 111 attacks which made them have the highest number of incidents of pirate attacks all over the world in the year of 2008. The country of Somalia has the highest percentage of piracy throughout the world. (“Piracy”) Since the kidnappings with Somalia, this country has turned it into a business. There's an extraordinary incentive to conduct acts of piracy. Last year, they estimate the pirates took in somewhere between $50 million and $150 million in ransom money. And, obviously, the cheap flow of weapons available in Somalia all contribute to this problem of maritime piracy. When a vessel gets taken over by pirates, a whole crew is taken hostage. Then, it is a negotiation with the company who owns the ship or it’s between the pirates and the cargo. Since this situation with kidnapping is developing very quickly, the pirates are developing new standards. With the pirates are creating new standards that in the future, the pirates will create more aggressive tactics since many ships are fighting back. (“The Problem”) The prime minister of Somalia, Omar Sharmarke had said that he and his government would try to end piracy off the coast of Somalia by the year of 2011. He started a campaign that would be backed by the military force would be in effect in slowing down the pirate activity in Somalia. Since the kidnapping of the thirty-six Spanish fishermen by the pirates of Somalia in October, Spain was impatient to wait until 2011 to see the results. (“Problems”)

The Proof of Existence of Piracy at Sea Pirates are one of the biggest problems that traders of the sea have to fear today. They steal and hijack vessels and people for ransom. Every year millios of dollars are lost at sea due to these pirate attacks. Is this not proof enough that this is a major problem in our world today? Our biggest problem is Somali pirates. They have gotten more and more daring with their endeavors. “They have gone virtually unnoticed-and unpunished.” (Gettleman, “Somalia”) Recently within the past two years, they have taken a ship filled with millions of dollars worth of weapons, ammo, and tanks. “The vessel was crammed with $30 million in cargo.”(SMH). This was basically a “floating munitions pile”(SMH). Pirates are almost all former fisherman who need to make a better living. They couldn’t make money with their fishing nets so they traded them in for AK-47s and RPG launchers. This is a huge problem because emergency help that is mainly being brought in by ship is already supporting Somalia. They are basically helping themselves closer to their possible downfall or in other words digging their own grave. According to recent reports, these pirates are so daring as too take on a huge trading cargo ship with a tiny dinghy. “Despite the vessel's increased speed and the choppy waters, the pirates balanced a ladder in their tiny boat and crawled up the side of the ship” (Yahoo, “Danish”). It seems as if these pirates are far more desperate than thought of at first. Luckily in this situation, an Indian naval ship was in the vicinity and intervened. In many situations where the crew must secure themselves to be safe from pirates, means that the ship is going with know one driving. This is a momentous problem especially because sea trading is so busy now a day. Special forces have to be contacted to first, stop the ship, and then sweep the huge vessel to see if a small pirate crew came aboard. This can take hours for them to look. World leaders have taken notice of pirate attacks and are taking action. For example, Navy snipers recently took out three pirates who took a captain hostage (CNN). Russia and America were in heavy pursuit of the stolen vessel carrying the ammo and weapons, which was in fact going to Somalia. (Gettleman, “Somlaia”). The Somali diplomat knows that these gun-toting fiends are a problem, but with the state Somalia is in, they don’t have the resources to do anything about it and that their whole coast is crawling with pirates. According to statistics of 2008, Pirates have hijacked 25 ships, attacked 50, and 14 are still held by them(Gettleman, “Pirates”). If our security on the seas does not improve we will continue to lose millions of dollars a year. What I think should happen is that a main trade route should be established with whatever country is participating in this trade route, they have their navy, with everyone else’s, working together for a higher level of security and safety on the sea. Who knows what would happen if things got out of hand. These pirates are getting more and more daring, who knows what could possibly happen next.

The Cause and Effects of Modern Day Piracy at Sea

Piracy at sea seems to be one of the many global crimes in which the number of effects towers over the number of causes. Piracy is an international problem that terrorizes the coasts of Somalia, Red Sea, Indian Ocean, and the waters of Indonesia and Singapore. (Jones) The one main cause of the recent boom in piracy at sea is the need or greed for money. But there is one country in particular where such piracy flourishes: Somalia. Somali pirates are openly benefitting from the lack of a structured government and enforced laws. Their profits are “on track to reach a record $50 million, all of it tax free.” (Gettleman) One would think if said pirates were so noticeably richer than their dirt poor neighbors, they could easily be apprehended and prosecuted. That is not the case here. On the contrary in fact, they don’t even get a slap on the wrist. They escape punishment because of the corrupt government officials who fill the seats of authority. It’s not “even clear whether Somali authorities universally want the piracy to stop.” (Gettleman) The pirates who have been imprisoned spoke of less than reputable relations with fishing companies, private security contractors and Somali government officials. One captured pirate, Farah Ismail Eid, said, “Believe me, a lot of our money has gone straight into the government’s pockets.” (Gettleman) In one of the still developing towns of Somalia, it is obviously not the best place to be in that country. That town is Boosaaso, where kidnapping is a likely possibility, a murder in the street is an everyday occurrence, and an increasing number of people are turning to life threatening jobs for little pay. But Boosaaso hasn’t always had a menacing reputation and an awfully bleak future. The Boosaaso port was once thriving with ships flowing in and out, making honest money. That all changed however, when the pirates figured out that the Boosaaso port was a gold mine and the town’s income took a severe blow. “Piracy is killing off the remains of a local fishing industry because export companies are staying away.” (Gettleman) The decline of Boosaaso’s profits make the people of the town turn desperate to make any kind of money which leads to another crisis; kidnapping for ransom. It doesn’t even stop there. The fear of being a victim of kidnapping scares away any much needed assistance from neighboring countries. And when the people of the town cannot kidnap, we see that piracy comes around full circle. In his article //Somalia’s Pirates Flourish in a Lawless Nation,// Jeffrey Gettleman shows how a simple, honest fisherman can be turned into a violent, law-breaking pirate. Several fishermen along the Gulf of Aden talked about seeing barrels of toxic waste bobbing in the middle of the ocean. They spoke of clouds of dead fish floating nearby and rogue fishing trawlers sucking up not just fish and lobsters but also the coral and the plants that sustain them. It was abuse like these, several men said, that turned them from fisherman into pirates. These are just a few results of the domino effects that can be traced all the way back to the Somali pirates attacking ships coming into Boosaaso. The record number of attacks and hijacks in 2009 may be the result of the efforts put forth to prevent future attacks by the United Nations Security Council. The goal of the international warships was to at least lower the number of attacks but the attempted may have been a motivation for pirates to go even further with their attacks. However, not all of the deployed warships were completely futile. The success rate in taking ships in the Gulf of Aden has dropped significantly with the presence of warships from all different nations patrolling the gulf. But that still hasn’t stopped the pirates. They merely move “their focus to the southern and eastern coasts of Somalia, where patrols are virtually nonexistent.” (McDonald) Now that the coalition between all those nations is busy in the gulf, the pirates have moved to off the coast of Somalia where the success rate is high. There is obvious financial loss due to the high ransoms of demanding pirates but the amount might be higher than one would think. The estimated annual loss due to piracy worldwide is about $13 to $16 billion. (Jones) And that estimation might not even be close to the real number since most carriers decide not to report piracy incidents. They don’t report the incidents because once they do; their insurance rate can increase by as much as 30% as well as the cost of an investigation which can often run to about $1000 a day. An average ransom for a kidnapped crew is around $120,000 and with an average of 20-30 incidents per month, the money starts to pile high. (Jones) Piracy has had so many negative effects on various countries’ economy and people. It turned the once very successful port of Boosaaso into a threatening spot where all ships are fair game to them. And because that port isn’t doing well the whole town isn’t doing well, which turns the people to desperation, anything to make money. A popular choice seems to be kidnapping. Since the whole town is in the pits, people can’t pay the ransoms so there is nothing they can do but sit and wait for their loved one to die. While all that is happening just within the country, the whole world is affected by piracy. They have taken an estimated $13 to $16 billion which probably isn’t the half of it. Those countries that have to pay that $120,000 ransom suffer, greatly if that country isn’t doing very well at the time. (Jones) Piracy affects a small town and the whole wide world, one cause incalculable effects. Piracy is an overlooked crisis that needs to be taken care of right away so Somalia may return to a budding society.

The Future of Piracy at Sea Piracy has been a serious issue since 500 BCE. Greek pirates attacked the many ships that traversed the Mediterranean. In the mid-18th century pirates attacked ships in the Caribbean, the Mediterranean Sea, and off the coasts of Spain, France, and Great Britain. Today, modern pirates usually attack off the coast of Somalia, the Malacca Strait, and even as far west as the Brazilian coast. Pirate tactics have not really changed in the past two centuries. Pirates have always targeted the cargo onboard ships. However, one item on a pirates list that has changed today is that hijackers want money. In the 18th century there were no radios or any means of communications between two ships, the captain of ship would pray that his crew could defeat the ship. Today a captain can radio a police force to try and fend off the pirates for them. Modern Piracy has flourished since the early 1970’s because of many factors. The major factor is the lack of a stable government and unstable economic conditions. “This has led people to resort to illegal activity, piracy, and murder.” (Wilson) The second factor is that shipmasters or captains are reluctant to report pirate attacks because it causes delay and captains feel as though they can handle it faster by themselves rather with the help of the Navy or of some police force. The third and final factor is that “since the late ‘90’s ship companies have employed smaller crews in order to save money.” (“Piracy”) “Terrorism has now gone to sea.” (Korin) Piracy is becoming a prime tactic for terrorists worldwide. “Pirates target weak links on the high seas.” (Jones) After a group of pirates boards a ship, they will force the crew, which is usually between 19 and 26, into a single space under constant guard by one or two of the pirates while the rest of them scour the ship for whatever they can find. They usually send a radio transmission to where ever the ship is close to (Somalia, South China Sea, and Malacca Strait). The pirates will hold the crews in contempt until their demands are met. For example, a few months ago, the Maersk Alabama was hijacked and the captain was held hostage for almost a week when snipers from the USS Bainbridge eliminated the pirates and rescued Captain Richard Phillips. Pirates also arm themselves heavily with automatic rifles and explosives. “A group of pirates will often search for sympathetic ports who will disregard the illegal acts and re-registrar with new names and false identifications creating phantom ships. Phantom ships are vessels that all of the sudden disappeared from a company’s roster) for use of illegal activity.” (Wilson) Many tactics have been implemented by crews and captains to avoid and prevent pirate attacks. They are as follows: 1.) avoid discussions of the ships routes or cargo onboard 2.) Keep constant watch in areas prone to piracy 3.) Search the ship for anyone onboard without authorization. (Wilson) However, these may not be as easy as they sound. Pirates use tactics that make them invisible to the crew. The main tactic would be coming up from behind the ship at a 45 degree angle. “This makes them invisible in the sense that the radar can not track them and they are not heard because of the massive engines on a tanker or cargo ship.” (Jones) If a crew detects a pirate attack before it happens, there are tactics used to deter them or to at least slow them down. They can be as advanced as an acoustic device launching loud frequencies at a pirate or as simple as a fire hose, blasting the pirate with high pressure water to fend them off. A captain may also use evasive maneuvers such as zigzagging to loose the pirate attackers. “If necessary a captain and crew will use small-arms fire to fend them off.” (Jones) If a group of pirates is intercepted in time by the Navy, Navy sharpshooters will help fend them off with long range rifles.

Solutions -Anti-Piracy Training by Filipino sailors -Mechanisms such as high pitch frequencies launched at pirates -Different sea routes, sailing away from Somalia as soon as possibe -Withholding information about the ship, the cargo its holding, or how its getting to it's destination -Use of small arms -More protection, perhaps implementing the use of a convoy, a tactic not used since WWII



Works Cited

Gettleman, Jeffrey “Somalia’s Pirates Flourish in a Lawless Nation” //New York Times//. 31 October, 2008. Web. 09 February, 2010. Houreld, Katherine. "Danish forces free ship captured by pirates." //Associated Press// (2010): 2. Web. 11 Feb 2010. Jones, Dan “Preventing a Pirate Attack” O&G Next Generation 30 Nov. 2009 Korin, Anne “Terrorism Goes to Sea” Institute for the Analysis of Global Security. November, 2008. Web. 09 February, 2010. “Piracy The Columbia Encyclopedia Encyclopedia.com”. 21 January, 2010. Web. 09 February, 2010. Jones, Megan “10 Shocking Facts About Modern-Day Pirates” 27 May, 2009. Web. 09 February, 2010. McDonald, Mark “Record Number of Somali Pirate Attacks in 2009” //New York Times.// 30 December, 2009. Web. 09 February, 2010. Morrison, David C., “Transnational Crime: Globalization’s Shadowy Stepchild.” //Great Decisions 2010 Edition.// New York: Foreign Policy Association, Inc., 2010. Print. Verjeer, Zane. "Hostage captain rescued; Navy snipers kill 3 pirates." //New York Times// (2009): 1. Web. 9 Feb 2010. Wilson, Tracy., “How a Modern Pirate Works” How Stuff Works. September, 2009. 09 February, 2010.  Cartoon. //Skymarshalstory.blogspot.com//. Steve Rustad, 20 Apr. 2009. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. Photograph. //John Brown//. John Brown, 18 Nov. 2008. Web. 24 Feb. 2010. .