The UN wants more military forces in the Somali waters, pacifist Japan is allowing its navy to use force, and commercial vessel companies are changing their routes. Piracy is back.

Desperate fishermen

In 2008, pirates attempted to hijack 111 ships, 42 were successful. Pirates off the Somali coast have posed a threat to international shipping since the beginning of the country’s civil war in 1990.

Traditional coastal fishing became so difficult after foreign vessels illegally emptied the Somali waters, that desperate fishermen started attacking trawlers to hold them for ransom. They called themselves “authorised coast guards”, charged with protecting Somalia’s fishing resources.

Within 5 years, when vessel crew started fighting back with heavy weapons, leading fishermen started targeting other types of commercial boats which had less protection and more treasure. A more structured and violent form of piracy had begun.

During 2005, the number of attempted attacks on vessels sailing the Indian Ocean off the coast of Somalia increased. A year later, piracy escalated when the self-proclaimed “coast guards” extended their work area to the Gulf of Aden and the mouth of the Red Sea.

Since 2008, it reached extraordinary proportions when ships were being attacked randomly and whenever the pirates chose.

Golden age of piracy

Piracy is one of the oldest crafts of the sea. Back in time, during the golden age of piracy (1570-1730), hijacking was as violent, frightening and illegitimate as it is now. Nowadays, however, it has been romanticized in films like Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean.

Despite the term “Golden Age,” a pirate’s life was hardly glamorous. Ships were smelly, uncomfortable and infested with rats and bugs. Food and fresh water were limited. Disease and periods of boredom were other unwelcome aspects of life onboard these vessels. And not all pirates chose such lives in the first place. Some men were kidnapped and forced to serve on pirate ships.

But pirates were not always freewheeling entrepreneurs. Even governments hired used them to gain a foothold in overseas colonies, without having to fund a real navy. England, France and Holland endorsed the use of privateers, privately owned ships, to fight battles and harass their Spanish rivals during the 16th and 17th centuries.

Piracy’s Golden Age ended by the 1720s, when they were mastered by European military forces in the Caribbean.

Piracy today

Piracy never disappeared completely. Since 1990, it has been staging a comeback. Today, the waters off Puntland and Somalia are among the world’s most dangerous. Modern pirates have developed an arsenal of techniques for preying on passing ships and usually come heavily armed.