Pirate Surge

Just in case anyone was concerned about the continued relevance of our project, the New York Times is reporting a pirate surge. Although pirate attacks declined in early 2009 (for which the Royal Navy claims credit, though it may just have been the weather), five ships were hijacked over the weekend and Somali pirates are now holding 17 ships and more than 250 people hostage:

The pirates somehow eluded the armada of warships from more than a dozen nations, including the United States, patrolling Somalia’s seas. Kenyan seafarers are now talking about a “pirate surge.”

“This hasn’t happened before,” said Andrew Mwangura, head of East African Seafarers’ Assistance Program in Mombasa. “The pirates are taking the opportunity to be more aggressive. They are pushing more southeast. They are moving down. They are using this opportunity to do whatever they can.”

And while most of last year's instances of piracy occurred in the Gulf of Aden, the pirates have begun to expand their operations southeast towards the Seychelles and the Mozambique Channel.