Piracy no its not 1600's

It is clearly a business that is growing in revenue in technology and and weaponry.

High speed boats rocket propelled grenades, AK47

Some facts.
Somali pirates

In the last 18 months 553 crew have been captured as hostages for ransom
47 major ships have been hijacked
est $150 million paid in ransom
estimated losses to shipping $60-80 million
9 countries are involved in patrols.
The pirates get tip offs from ports satellite phones etc.
Currently over 1 million sq miles of ocean to patrol and increasing
The UN has given the right to pursue the pirates in land.

The UK navy patrol ship captain has stated.
Too big an area too few ships
that to re-take ships he need more assault sailors and 2 helicopter
backup.

BUT The ship owner would rather pay the ransoms and avoid a bloodbath.

Presumably to avoid loosing ships and valuable cargoes and the cost of not being able to attract experienced crews. (in short a business decision.)

Does this simple put of the day of reckoning, by encouraging and paying for more sophisticated and inevitably greedy pirates.

What isn't commonly known.

Somali hasn't had an effective government for 2 decades.
The Somali general in charge of combating them has no boats and little control in the area.
Piracy is a career choice in a country where unemployment is is 40-60%
On land pirates have all the mod cons houses businesses luxury cars etc. The pirates are seen as heroes. swashbuckling characters.

Modern piracy isn't new is it also growing in the Sth China Sea area too but there they tend to be more violent.

Should business be taken out of the loop and a co-ordinated force both overt and covert be formed?

Will an increased effort to stamp it out, be met with even more aggressive violent pirates?

What can be done?
What else should be done to discourage the trade?
Comments

Or perhaps this might have some merit?

http://www.projectcensored.org/top-stories/articles/3-toxic-waste-behind-somali-pirates/

Yes piracy is a growing problem for a simple reason, it pays
them to do it!

What happened to those pirates caught? The majority had their
guns taken off them and they were then released. That is hardly
going to stop them from buying new guns and having another go.

The solution would be to sink a few pirate boats, pirates and all,
news would soon spread.

But that would not be considered "humane", so it won't happen,
not by the West anyhow

What can be done?. Give them 25 seconds to get out of their boat then open up on it, or kill as many as you can before their operations go towards not being able to go anywhere NEAR Africa because they have warships.

I believe the French already have a similar policy to that.

...same with south China seas.

Dear Examinator,

I assume that -
" Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum ..."
is not what you're talking about,
But, the growing crisis of piracy at sea
in the 21st Century.

I came across an interesting website:

http://www.strategypage.com/on_point/20051115.aspx

With the title: "21st Century Piracy: Long John
Isn't Long Gone," by Austin Bay. Nov. 15, 2005.

The author tells us that there are:

Three requirements for piracy, which applied to
Viking pirate raiders and can be applied to contemporary
Somali sea thieves. They are:

1) Pirates prowl waterways where the targets are lucrative.
2) The geographic area where pirates prey must be one
in which the risk level of detection is acceptable.
3) If possible, pirates have "safe havens" where they
can - "hide, seek repairs and obtain supplies."

The author states that:

"Combating piracy takes good intelligence.
Piracy has never been reduced through any
process of negotiation..."

The European Union needs to mount
some sort of "anti-piracy security operation" in
these regions - with the help of the
US Navy, Britain's Royal Navy,
the Russians, and others .

As the author says:

"Historically, only armed force suppresses pirates!"

the solution isnt complicated
give them what they seek

so what do they seek...cab be judged by their acts
it seems they have respect for persons

are familiar with the higher workings of industry/trade/finance/policing

use much of their income to payoff others
colluding cleanly clearly from the sidelines

what we have here are despirite people
simply doing the minimum they can do..to survive

if shipping paid insurance[for safe passage]
im sure safer passage could be arranged

simply by each paying a levie...or toll...for the conveniance of taking a short cut...past their impoverished/outcast/vilified/war torn..home-lands