High-seas piracy growing more high-tech, deadlier

[dArKeR]

Indonesia has once again topped the International Maritime Bureau's blacklist with the highest number of attacks so far this year

Piracy on the high seas has reached record levels and Indonesian waters are the most dangerous in the world, an ocean crime watchdog said yesterday.

The International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said the number of reported ship attacks leaped to 344 in the first nine months of this year, 26 percent more than the 271 recorded in corresponding period last year.

"This is the highest number of attacks for the first nine months of any year since the IMB Piracy Reporting Center began compiling statistics in 1991," said Captain Pottengal Mukundan, the bureau's director.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2003/11/01/2003074178

[izzie]

1. I missed this and how interesting. I did not know it went on.

n/t

[arcos]

3. I learned about it a few years ago...

but I was really surprised. I never thought it still happened at the end of the 20th century... we are used to 'old pirate' stories.

[Vogon_Glory]

2. Not Surprised. An Issue Ignored By the Pubbies

I'm not surprised that piracy is on the upswing. Given the rise in impoverished, corrupt, and failing governments like Indonesia and the great powers' disinterestin policing the high seas, piracy is inevitable.

Piracy, like terrorism, was one of those issues that was ignored by Dubya and his fellow Republicans. Fighting piracy is where some of the money spent on Dubya's Big Sandy Adventure could and should have went.

[kysrsoze]

6. Yeah, this is actually a huge terrorism risk

I saw a report where they mentioned possible use of an ocean liner to harbor a nuke bomb or a biological weapon, then drive it right into a US port and detonate. The oceans aren't and can't be monitored as closely as the skies.

This seems like an astronomically higher risk to the US than the 'threat'(sic) from Iraq, Syria, Iran, etc.

[Turbineguy]

4. Piracy in Indonesian waters

This has been a problem going on for several decades. The pirates used to be just subsistance guys looking for something they could use. Fishermen who were moonlighting. They would use grappling hooks to come aboard ships and steal mooring lines and paint and such without the ships crew being aware. Then they became bolder and started attacking people in their rooms. It was usually just a matter of tying them up and stealing their personal stuff.

When going through the Mallaca Straights (between Singapore and Indonesia), we would always have fire hoses out, pressure on the fire main system and go full speed (always a dicey proposition in narrow waters).

Over time the pirates have become more professional and violent.

Now the pirates have speed boats and automatic weapons. The pirates in Chinese waters steal whole ships, killing the crew. The situation also exists in the Caribean and Gulf of Mexico.

[DivinBreuvage]

5. But aren't pirates supposed to be hilariously loveable?

Could someone PLEASE explain to me why the Hollywood depiction of 17th-18th Century pirates has become such a fetish in modern America?

Françoise

[LifeDuringWartime]

7. ARR!

because pirates are awesome