More on Somali Pirates

In October 2005 an International Maritime Bureau report documented twenty-three pirate attacks in Somali waters since March 15, 2005. One of the attacks resulted in the Hong Kong-based owner of a liquefied gas tanker paying hijackers $315,000 for the return of the ship after it was seized on April 10, 2005. In another attack on August 15, 2005, three fishing boats and forty-eight Asian fishermen were captured by Somali pirates and held for ransom in Somalia.

The attack on a luxury cruise ship off the coast of Somalia on November 5th, 2005 generated some publicity to the Somali piracy and prompted the cash-strapped Somali government to sign a $50 million contract with an American company to provide protection against pirates, but it is not clear what, if anything, the American company has done about the problem.

Falling on deaf years
The attack on the Seabourn Spirit cruise ship was detered (according to several news sources including USA Today), through the use of a sonic weapon.

It was a long-range acoustic device (LRAD) originally developed for the U.S. Navy by American Technology Corporation of San Diego. The non-lethal weapon was designed to deter attacks on ships like the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, an attack that was carried out in a Yemeni port by suicide bombers who approached the Cole in a small boat packed with explosives.

The Seabourn Spirit was sailing approximately 100 miles off the coast of Somalia when men on two speedboats fired on the ship with machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades. The ship escaped from the two speedboats after attempting to ram one of them and using the LRAD. One crew member suffered minor injuries from shrapnel. None of the 151 passengers was injured.

LRAD permits broadcasting of messages or sounds (including ear-splitting noises) over long distances. Its use can cause permanent hearing loss at distances of up to 100 yards.

At present, the device is deployed on U.S. Navy ships operating in the Persian Gulf and as part of the force protection kits of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in Iraq. A number of cruise ships also carry the LRAD, which, because the sound it generates is focused in a particular direction, can be used without harming its operators or others not directly in the path of the sonic pulse.

Goings get tough
In the beginning of 2006 there were two encounters between U.S. Navy ships and suspected pirates. In the second (March 18th) two U.S. warships were involved in a clash with suspected pirates off the coast of Somalia early in the morning. Sailors aboard the USS Cape St. George, which was patrolling in the Indian Ocean along with the USS Gonzalez as part of a Dutch-led maritime security operation, fired on a fishing boat in international waters after men aboard the boat brandished a rocket-propelled grenade launcher and fired on the American vessel. One suspect was killed, five were wounded, and twelve others were taken into custody.

Not a bad year after all
The 2006 International Maritime Organization annual Reports on Acts of Piracy and Armed Robbery Against Ships (available here as a .pdf file) put the Somali piracy into context:

• There were 241 "acts of piracy and armed robbery against ships" reported to the IMO in 2006, 25 fewer than in 2005.
• The South China Sea, where there were 66 "incidents," was the most dangerous part of the world (although the Malacca Strait, with 22 "incidents," probably had the most attacks per square mile.
• Ten ships were hijacked. Four of the ten hijackings occurred in the waters off East Africa.
• Thirteen crew members died at the hands of pirates; another 112 were injured.
• There were 180 crew members kidnapped or taken hostage, of which 37 remain unaccounted for.
• The peak month for piracy was April. Like Congress, pirates seem to go into recess in August