2010- A Year of Piracy

2010 may have set records in many different areas, one that people may not know about is piracy. The International Chamber of Commerce's International Maritime Bureau released the numbers yesterday, saying that "pirates captured 1,181 sailors aboard 53 ships in 2010."- eight of the captured were killed. There were a total of 445 attacks by pirates in 2010 which is up 10% from 2009. These numbers are the highest recorded and, if they continue, could result in extreme threats and danger. The coast of Somalia is where most of the attacks occurred- 92% of captured ships occurred here. Some other dangerous areas include; the ports of Lagos, Nigeria and Chittagong, Bangladesh, also, waters of Indonesia and the South China Sea. "Piracy costs businesses and governments $7 billion to $12 billion a year," due to ransoms, rerouting, security measures and organizations. As of less than one month ago, 28 ships and 638 hostages still remain in the hands of pirates. 
While we see pirates in movies, and maybe a few on Halloween, I don't usually expect to hear about them in the news. I know it's kinda bad, but I find this story rather humorous- just because of the fact that there are real live pirates in our world. You wouldn't think that pirates are something we have to worry about in the world we have today, but I guess in some areas, it is a big worry. While this story did say how many ships and sailors were taken by pirates, it did not mention how many pirates (if any) were captured which would be very interesting to know. It's difficult for me to imagine a ship with pirates sailing around out there capturing people, demanding thousands to millions of dollars in ransom and holding people hostage without the governments taking serious action to solve this problem. I have a feeling if U.S. ships were the ones to be attacked, more steps would be taken. My guess why more governments aren't doing more is because they don't have the money to fund trying to find and take down these pirates. I was rather surprised at the high numbers of attacks, hostages, etc. I guess I didn't know pirates were such a big deal. The good news out of this would be that there were only eight hostages killed... out of the 1,181 captured, eight is a VERY low number! Also, since 2010 was the "worst on record for piracy at sea," it makes me wonder why. Are there more pirates this year than previous years? Are people more desperate, therefore resorting to lower levels to get money? Are the governments relaxing on their ways to avoid and take care of the pirates? All unanswered questions...
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/01/18/report-2010-was-worst-year-yet-for-piracy-on-high-seas/?hpt=Sbin