Naval chiefs warn of rise in Somali piracy

[alp227]

Source: Financial Times

Military commanders are expecting a sharp rise in attacks by Somali pirates amid shipping industry warnings that the problem is worsening in the Indian Ocean.

The expected increase in raids coincides with the end of the monsoon. The rains and rough seas between June and September make it harder for the pirates to mount attacks from their small skiffs.

Attacks on shipping in the Indian Ocean were running at record levels in the early part of the year, before the rainy season set in, as the pirates shifted their attention from the Gulf of Aden to the vastness of the Arabian Sea and Indian Ocean.

Somali pirates are responsible for 23 hijackings so far this year - just under half the record total of 49 in 2010 - and have taken 399 seafarers hostage, according to data from the International Maritime Bureau.

Read more: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/a5c5b6ae-dc84-11e0-8654-00144feabdc0.html

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[ProgressiveProfessor]

1. Send in the Q Ships

Though I still think the Russian approach is too extreme

[Cool Logic]

2. The shipping industry should consider investing in some these in order to deter would be pirates.

[naaman fletcher]

3. they can't really..

having weapons on commercial shipping complicates 500 years of maritime law.