Piracy is not just a problem around Somalia, though it is logically concentrated around the chokepoints in the world’s main shipping routes.

One hot spot at a time my friend. 😉 Besides, if the tactics used around Somalia are effective, there is little reason why they would not also be effective when applied to the other piracy hot spots.

Poverty doesn’t absolve persons of their individual responsibility but it is clear that in a poor area people with money can get (away with) things that other can’t i.e. if the environment is poor, this provides a safe habitat (you don’t have to be a ship boarder: to earn some money or palm grease, poor people will aid and abet or at least not report the actual thugs. See hard drug producing countries: you can’t just eradicate coca or poppy crops, you have to give the poor farmer a viable alternative to make a living. A coca farmer is part of the production system but not necessarily a thug or criminal)

Well I think that is not the most accurate of comparisons, since in the case of Somalia, there are no law enforcement agencies trying to close these guys down. They effectively own and run most of the coastal towns. As such, there is less need for paying off for silence of greasing palms.

I would also suggest that it is inaccurate to compare pirates to poppy growers. A more accurate comparison would be between pirates and drug gang enforcers. Would anyone here have any moral objections to suggesting police should shoot to kill against those guys? I am merely arguing for the same policy against pirates.

These are not cute and fluffy (or more accurately, drunk and funny I guess) Captain Sparrow and jolly maties sailing about fighting the evil East Indian Trading Company of the 21st century here. Good honest merchants have been killed and injured when they tried to resist these thugs.

I’m arguing its way past time the kiddy gloves come off and these criminals get the treatment their kind deserves.

However we are realistically in the realms of statisical correllations rather than causal relationships and the greater the wealth disparity and sense of injustice the more predatory behaviour occurs.

I would suggest that the strength of law enforcement would also be a major factor, as invariably in pretty much all countries and societies, the law enforcement departments put more priority and resources to enforcing law and order in richer (and more powerful and influential) areas than in the run-down poor areas.

Many police forces in the world have demonstrated time and again that crime could be greatly reduced in poor and crime-ridden areas with more patrolling and a great police presence.

However, because of budgetary constrains, these exercises have tended to be short-term campaigns instead of long-term change in enforcement patterns, but I feel we are getting a little off-topic here. 😉

If we wish to erradicate piracy we need to prevent it occuring.

The current situation is hugely expensive, puts innocent (both service and civillian) lives at risk and is not sustainable.

Fully agreed.

Convoys with fast well armed units (be they surface or aviation) able to intercept pirates en route to their victims (as recommended here by flanker and nocuts)

This has been the most successful method, as there has not been a single ship hi-jacked that was under the protection of a PLAN escorted convoy.

However, a convey system is very hard to implement, especially a systematic one that would cover all shipping.

As with many formula of this kind, the entire concept is only as strong as its weakest link. You will need to convoy 100% of shipping passing through the area for it to effectively starve out the pirates. If only a tiny proportion of ships tries to go it alone and get jacked, that would be enough to sustain the pirates.

What more, an operation of this kind would require a vast increase in the number of warships and other naval assets in the area in order to implement. And that effectively shifts the costs permanently onto the shoulders of world navies. I dare say that that is not the ideal solution at least in the view of the navies involved.

What more, this would only be an effective measure for as long as it is enforced. As soon as the navies stop convoy escorts (as is likely to happen as soon as attacks drop to a suitably low level and politicians ‘back home’ start pointing to the costs and demanding the convoys stop as they is ‘no longer a threat’), it is almost certain that the piracy problem will re-surface in a very short period of time again.

Protection embarked on vessels (as recommended here by me)

A logical solution, however, from what I have gathered, insurance companies are firmly against this and would not insure armed ships, or would charge a much higher rate(ludicrous I know!).

To illustrate this, I remember there was a case where the PLAN task force decided to airdrop a spec op team onto a merchant ship that was too slow to keep up with one of their convoys to act as guards. The captain of the ship was mightily peeved by this apparently (until the pirates showed up and the spec op team scared them off with warning shots). But there must have been formal complaints, as the PLAN has never done this again AFAIK.

Attacking bases ashore (not recommended here yet and terribly risky as highlighted in Somalia previously)

Not to mention the huge number of hostages held.

But ……….. to erradicate requires I believe a different strategy. One which I suspect would be cheaper, more effective and more just. Some hearts and minds work with the fishermen and ex-fishermen as part of the force option would be a worth a go as well.

Well, personally, I hold out little hope that ex-fishermen would have much of a fighting chance against well organized, decently armed and almost certainly ruthless criminal gangs that run much of Somalia.

The biggest problem with Somalia is that there is no law, and the only authority is the side with the most guys and guns.

Unlike for example the drug problem in Latin America, its not that national law enforcement agencies does not know where the bad guys are that is the problem, its rather that there are no law enforcement agencies in Somalia to go after the bad guys to start with. Pirates run the coastal towns.

The lesson that was learned in World War I and re-learned in World War II was that to the most effective, efficient way to use naval assets to protect merchant vessels is to institute a system of escorted convoys. Yes, there would be objections from shipowners who will say it would interfere with their schedules. Yes, the navies don’t like it because it’s tedious compared to glamorous zooming around the ocean ‘hunting’ the bad guys. But it works. So, organise convoys and provide them with air and ship escorts.

Fully agreed, and it seems the only the PLAN is pursing such a strategy. But that is only an effective means of prevention. It does little to address the core issue of how to eradicate the pirate problem once and for all.

Maybe the best way would be to make sure there is no need for folks to turn priate: economic development.

Well foreign over fishing has certainly played its part if helping to supply the desperate men the pirate leaders need to do their bidding.

However, what you are suggesting is high problematic for a number of reasons.

Chiefly, Somalia has no working government, as such, there is no means to effect economic development short of sending in an occupational army to in effect build a state out of that bowl of wrong.

What more, I do not subscribe to the idea that being born with a poor lot in life somehow justifies you to take up a weapon and go robbing other hard working folk out of their wealth and goods to make your own situation better.

Call me old fashioned, but if you behave like a criminal, then you should be treated as one. And rewarding thuggish thieving behavior with aid will only encourage other down trodden people to follow this perverse example.

There are plenty of needy people in the world who has not taken to piracy that deserves my aid money a hell of a lot more than Somali pirates, no matter how pathetic their life story might have been.