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Can Pirates be Stopped?

Naval expert Rick Gurnon tells homeland security conference attendees that the fight against Somali pirates has no clear answer, and won't be solved anytime soon

By Joan Goodchild, Senior Editor

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Gurnon noted that a ransom as high as $3.2 million was collected recently for the release of a Ukranian vessel.

"Just as paying ransom to the Bays of Tripoli failed to stop piracy at the turn of the 19th century, paying insurance money to the Somali pirates at the beginning of the 21st century is doomed to fail," said Gurnon.

Gurnon said he believed ship owners and insurers bear some responsibility because their payments are causing more and more Somalis to seek the job of piracy; a job that can pay the equivalent of hitting the lottery considering the average daily wage in Somalia is a mere $2.

"It's a business that will continue until someone changes the way business is done," said Gurnon. "President Obama says America is resolved to address the problem. But how?"

Gurnon noted by some estimates it would take over 100 war ships to secure the Gulf of Aden and several times that number to protect seas off of the region's east coast.

Protective measures, such as convoys aren't practical, he said. And arming either security personnel on a vessel or merchant seaman will, at the very least, lead to a spike in insurance rates and the cost of training will be expensive, too.

"For now, passive self defense is generally the norm, that includes operating at fast speeds of advance, above 14 knots," he said.

Other tactics some vessels have employed include barbed wire at low areas of the ship to prevent boarding and charged fire hoses to drive oncoming pirates away (see How Shipping Companies Can Fight Pirates for more practical advice).

Ultimately, the real solution is on land, not at sea, said Gurnon. Somalia needs viable government to control its seas and shores. But with Iraq and Afghanistan still hot, there aren't too many countries, including America, interested in getting involved in a protracted land war in Somalia, he said.

For now, according to Gurnon, "We are going to have to pay ransoms, and invest in naval warships; a coordinated effort to patrol those shores in an attempt to make the business of piracy unprofitable. Until that happens, we are going to be doing this over and over again."