Today's Pirates

Piracy is committed on waters, and takes place when the motive is financial gain. Usually if the motive were to be religious or political the proper term would be terrorism instead. Piracy is an illegal war-like act committed by private parties with the purpose to rob with criminal violence at sea.

Modern Piracy is flourishing around the seas of our world today more than most know. The area seeming to be most affected in the world is particularly between the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, which is off the Somalia coast. New age pirates seem to be popping up more and more every year, pirate attacks actually tripled in the world between 1993 and 2003, with 445 attacks and 16 deaths in 2003 alone. In 2009 modern pirates were reported to have attacked 306 just between the months of January and September alone.

Modern pirates seem to prey on those weaker than them and target cargo ships as well as fishing vessels. Some may target smaller boats for the victims person cash, and are known to hold people for ransom as well. The problem has become such an issue on the Somalian coast that the IMB, (International Chamber of Commerce based in Paris France), began sending out daily signals to ships to steer clear of the coast by at least 200 miles, as read about further in the National Geographic News on Modern Pirates. Many pirates seem to attack while ships are at slower speeds, such as to navigate narrow straights. The U.S. Navy recently have started patrol off of the coast of Somalia due to all the rising problems.

There have been some successful attempts against piracy, with some cruise ships and such having armed and trained staff being able to fight and scare the pirates off, as well as some International ships that have been equipped with anti-piracy weaponry. One device that has seemed helpful is a device that sends a sonic wave to the target, the sonic wave creates a sound so strong that it has been known to burst eardrums and scare pirates off by causing them to become rather disoriented. Leaving the vessel to raise their speeds and get away from the pirates.

Cited Source: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/07/060706-modern-pirates.html