It is becoming apparent to Somali pirates that their prey is getting tired of being prey. More and more ships are employing counter measures, and the pirates are attempting to adjust tactics to compensate with varying degrees of success.
Connecting the Dots has done a limited number of stories on Somalia and their hoards of pirates. We suggested a common sense fix to the problem, but governments took a different approach and sent in their navy to police the area. Not to say this is the wrong approach as it does have some effectiveness, but not total.
As a result the Somalia pirates have simply increased the size of the haystack they are hiding in thus watering down the effectiveness of the navy’s medicine. Attacks are starting to come from waters outside of where attacks happened before. Also the pirates are coming in more often with guns blazing verses the stealthy approach. This more aggressive posture is no doubt fueled by increasing frustration of discovering their prey has claws.
The counter measures so far have that have been the most effective are the ones Connecting the Dots suggested, and that is to be armed and fight off the opportunistic pirates. A few well placed rocket propelled grenades are extremely effective in providing shark food. As the pirates are opportunistic, remove the opportunity and the problem is resolved. There have been several reports the pirates will abandon their attack if easier prey is sighted.
There is some concern that an arms race will start between ship security and the Somali pirates. But in all due respect the pirates can pack whatever weapons they want and if bigger weapons are the name of the game, the ensuing firefight will be short lived as one well placed hit will be very decisive sinking the pirates attack boat. Sitting in a 25 foot open boat hundreds of miles from any land with grenades flying at you is a place nobody wants to be. If they are crazy enough to be there, then certainly the are crazy enough to be shot at for self defense. There are few that would argue against that, except for the ones that have no concept of what the real world is all about.
At some point the Somali pirates will come to the conclusion the party is over and adjust tactics again. But as for what those adjustment options are it is difficult to see. There are few changes they can make other than bigger and armored attack ships, but they will be food for the navy as they will be easier to spot and investigate.
So for the moment any water within 1000 miles of Somalia should be seen as pirate infested and counter measure should be taken along. Failure to follow this sound advise will likely give you a chance to look down the business end of an AK47 being held by a Somali pirate.
