What Is Maritime Piracy-Why Is It A Threat To Seaways & What Are The Approaches To Address It

Hello, Everyone!

The last few years have witnessed piracy attacks in one of the most crucial seaways, for instance, the Gulf of Aden which interconnects the Arabian Sea to the Red Sea, the coast of Africa essentially comprising 38 countries, the Horn of Africa; marked as the Somali Peninsula, holds the strategic and geopolitical importance due to its position at the southern periphery of the Red sea furthering its peripheries to Gulf of Aden, Guardafui Channel, and the Indian Ocean, Bangladesh and Strait Of Mallaca which bridges Andaman Sea (Indian Ocean) and the South China Sea (Pacific Ocean) holding strategic importance by being the shortest seaway among the Middle East and East Asia underscoring potential threats to the Maritime Security. \

Gulf of Aden links Red Sea to the Arabian Sea

Pic Source:Istock https://www.istockphoto.com/vector/gulf-of-aden-area-connecting-red-sea-and-arabian-sea-political-map-gm1409475652-460005769

Countries in Horn of Africa along the Oceanic Coasts are prone to piracy

Pic Source:https://testbook.com/ias-preparation/horn-of-africa

About Maritime Piracy:-

But what is Maritime Piracy? It refers to offenses such as robbery and violence done at the sea. Besides this; various illegal acts done at the Sea are also termed as Maritime Piracy.

Now let us look at the frequency of attacks by the Sea Pirates done at essential waterways. In the Gulf of Aden; the threat of the Somalian Pirates to the sea routes dwelled in the year 2000 and gained momentum in 2010. Likewise, the Somali coast has also witnessed sea piracy for several years; however, it peaked in 2000. If we talk about Bangladesh and the Strait of Malacca the scenario is no less different. There have been several sporadic incidents of pirate attacks.

Main Causes Behind Pirate Attacks:-

Lets focus on the key causes triggering pirate attacks.Some of them are as:

->Lack Of Dedicated Maritime Law Enforcement:- The waterways such as the Gulf of Aden and the Horn of Africa do not have sufficient dedicated maritime enforcement laws therefore they are more prone to frequent pirate attacks.

->Raised Convergence Of Maritime Traffic and Maritime Traffic Routes Routes:- The areas susceptible to piracy often transit high maritime traffic specifically at narrow passages where the terrains compel ships to either coverage or decrease speed—for instance Strait of Mallaca.

->Flickering Economic Conditions & Poor Employment Opportunities:-Poor administration and multiple economic pointers -Fluctuating economic conditions such as fewer jobs, flickering prices of goods, and people not being financially stable often lead to economic crisis. These poor financial situations and no or very low number of jobs make people inclined towards misdeeds such as piracy to incur some finances which triggers criminal acts in areas like the Somalian Region.

->Difficult Law Implementations In Piracy Prone Areas As They Do Not Fall Under Jurisdiction Of One Country:- There is an increased number of piracy-prone areas that fall under the jurisdiction of multiple countries; leading to difficult implementation of legal rules under legal systems unanimously for all countries globally who are putting joint efforts to combat piracy.

What Are The Approaches To Address Maritime Piracy:-

Lets figure out the possible strategies to manage and address Maritime piracy.

Procedural Strategies:-

1.Availability of Naval Fleets:The very basic strategy which can go a long way is that the availability of naval fleets must and aircrafts ; seeing whom the pirats will not show the audacity for the attack.

2.Robust Alert and Protection Services:This will shore up the safety of the merchant ships which come accross pirates prone areas ;by letting them accompany naval defense fleets between the exclusive areas for securing consolidated collective endeavours for safety of merchant ships against pirate attacks.

3.Leveraging Cutting-Edge Surveillance Via Dedicated Information Fusion Centers:Surveillance through Information Fusion Centres for gathering and analying data to recognise and trace the possible dangers is a great way to bolster surveillance by effection collaboration of intelligence and information sharing.

Permanent Strategies To Combat Piracy Attacks:-

Besides the aforementioned procedural strategies there should be permanent strategies to thwart piracy attacks .

Below are some of  such permanent strategies :

1.Multinational Cooperation And Dialouge On Exchanging Vital Information :-

There should be multinational cooperation and dialouge on exchanging vital information to significantly impede pirate attacks.One such example of it is US Coordinated Maritime Coalition;which is a group forged by US to work in collaboration with different countries to consolidate safety and security against maritime piracy attacks.In this group multiple countries unite to address common difficulties observed at sea such as piracy,smuggling and other illegal acts.They collectively keep a tight vigil ,examine maritime areas,exchange information and react to dangers with a common vision to safeguard ships and oceanic regions.

2.Robust Administration:-

The seaside countries should aim for robust administration and working out on sound legal systems to mitigate poverty and enhancing economic opportunities which in turn will cut off any chances for people to get engaged in illicit activities.

3.Stable Finance and Economy , Poised To Develop:-

Fostering job opportunities, investment in manufacture of infrastructure and stable income should be matters of prime focus in oceanic countries.This will prevent people from getting involved in misdeeds for financial benefit at the sea.

4.People-To-People Engagement:-

One -On -One engagement of people with a common goal to collaboratively work towards coastal security for instance generating awareness in one and all by means of awareness campaigns to unify them for securing oceanic regions.For instance Puntland ;a self-govering area situated in northeastern part of Somalia focuses its efforts on robust governance,enhanced security, economic development and stability, and resource management within it.

Conclusively we would say that Maritime Piracy is a criminal act towards oceanic regions and seawaters which is driven by indicators such as poverty ,economic instability,no job opportunities ,no work on economic infrastructure.However ;it can be thwarted by effective strategies planned and implemented to curtail such offenses.

Thank You.