Maritime Professional - NUSI threaten to boycott Gulf of Aden/Somalia coast

Maritime Professional - NUSI threaten to boycott Gulf of Aden/Somalia coast

The disregard for the lives of seafarers by shipping companies and world powers is disappointing. 200 merchant seamen are still being held for ransom by Somali pirates after the M.V. Al Khaliq was recently released. Piracy is a serious crime which became much more common near Somali waters after foreign companies eliminated the fisheries by overfishing and dumping toxic waste, causing fishermen to abandon legitimate business.

Disappointingly, the world powers have done nothing to deal with either the crime or the conditions that encourage the crime. To deal with the crime, merchant ships need to be equipped properly to resist boarding, with barriers like barbed wire around the deck, enough lookouts, and crew trained to use non-lethal techniques to repel pirates. There should also be naval escorts, with each country responsible for protecting the ships flying her flag or owned by her citizens, but because of the uneven distribution of world naval power a compromise should be reached so that nations with more naval power provide more naval escort vessels. The conditions need to be improved by banning exploitation or destruction of any of Somalia's natural resources by internationals.

None of this is being done now. I'm embarrassed that the US, with the largest navy and with businesses that own more than a thousand ships total (with most registered in other nations), can't protect the seafarers who create its wealth.

I agree with the National Union of Seafarers of India that if the situation doesn't improve, seafarers should refuse to sail through the Gulf of Aden and I hope this threat has the political effect it deserves.