Piracy Solution Ideas
- In the three days after Richard Phillips, courageous captain of the Maersk "Alabama" cargo ship, gained his freedom, Somali pirates hijacked four more ships and took 75 more hostages. Piracy continues to pose a threat to shipping. Dr. Wayne Talley, Executive Director of the Maritime Institute at Old Dominion University, proposes the use of armed sea marshals placed aboard ships that navigate in the troubled waters off Somalia. Stationing one highly trained, armed sea marshal on every ship would eliminate the need to arm untrained personnel and could frighten potential pirates.
- While all agree the issue of piracy remains a serious problem, not all agree with using lethal force against pirates. Advocates for non-lethal force believe the use of Taser devices would serve as a sufficient response to the desperate pirates. The crews would receive training in the use of Tasers or other non-lethal defensive weapons to use for protection. Critics of this plan emphasize that a Taser serves no purpose until pirates come within a few feet of a crew member. Pirates who carry automatic weapons would have already boarded the ship and secured a distinct advantage over passive defense weapons like a Taser.
- On April 2010, in the Indian Ocean, west of the Seychelles, pirates actually attacked the USS Nicholas, operating in international waters at 12:27 a.m. local time. The pirates fired on the Navy ship from an open skiff. The Nicholas returned fire, sinking the skiff, and detained three pirates. The Nicholas then confiscated another, larger pirate ship and captured two more pirates. One month earlier, the guided-missile destroyer USS Farragut had opened fire and disabled a pirate skiff. Some say that if pirates will attack U.S. Navy ships, then a naval escort will provide little protection against them.
- One very interesting solution to the piracy problem involves using the free markets and basic greed. Economist Peter Leeson states that nobody wants to police the oceans due to their sheer size. His idea involves selling the waters off the Somali coast to provide a financial incentive for the new "owners," who would then charge a fee for security to protect shipping in those areas. Opponents claim this idea will never work due to the sheer size of the open seas around Somalia and the inability of any force or government to provide protection in all places at all times.