In the 21st century the age-old phenomena of piracy has experienced a spectacular rise, with the number of attacks increasing by double-digit rates per year. Last year, according to the International Maritime Organization (IMO), 263 actual and attempted pirate attacks took place. Large maritime areas have now become known as pirate heavens, where mariners can expect to be routinely molested. Specifically, the coasts off of Somalia, Yemen, and Kenya are now dangerous territory attracting worldwide attention for increasingly blatant seizures. Pirate attacks off these coasts have surged 75 percent this year, as bandits lured by million-dollar ransoms have pushed farther out to sea in search of bigger prey among the 20,000 oil tankers, freighters and merchant vessels transiting the waters each year.
The costs of pirate asymmetrical operations are very low and a ransom payoff an extraordinarily high rate of return. In addition, the pirates have a robust intelligence network at sea and in ports that appears to be tracking potential targets. For instance, the Saudi tanker was seized 700 kilometers at sea, meaning pirates' agents are monitoring movement of ships from places like the costs of Aden, Eretria and Djibouti.
In August 2008, Combined Task Force 150, a multinational coalition task force, took on the role of fighting Somali piracy by establishing a Maritime Security Patrol Area (MSPA) within the Gulf of Aden. Countries presently contributing to CTF-150 include Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Pakistan, the United Kingdom and the United States. Other nations who have participated include Australia, Italy, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Spain, and Turkey. |