Piracy on the high seas

Recent piracies in the Indian Ocean have received a lot of media coverage.

There are many proposals to solve the piracy problem. One of our own suggested a semi martial law for the high seas. I suppose he would allow martial law in his own neighborhood, for safety.

Fear! That most basic instinct that overcomes reason, cries out for the government to do something. "He who is not everyday conquering some fear has not learned the secret of life.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

The amount of ransom is usually kept secret to prevent incentives for future hijackings. One story did say $2 million was paid for one ransom. Another said $8 million for that ship full of arms.

(Associated Press April 11, 2009 NAIROBI, - The owner of the Norwegian tanker Bow Asir confirmed Friday that it had been released two weeks after it was seized by armed pirates off the Somali coast, and all 27 of its crew members were unhurt.)

As long as companies continue to pay ransoms, only $2 million, pirating will continue. Two million dollars is nothing to a large shipping company.Insurance premiums would probably cost more. Arming their ships and training the crews would cost a lot more than the $2 million.

(October 2008, AP There have been 73 attacks this year in the Gulf of Aden that forms the northern Somalia coastline, and about 29 ships have been hijacked, according to the International Maritime Bureau.)

As long as the odds are low for a hijacking and the ransom is low,
companies will take little action. They will however expect the government to spend billions of taxpayer money to protect the ship companies. If the governments did nothing, eventually the ship owners would find it more cost beneficial to arm their ships and crews.

The shipping companies, like the airlines, do not want to take
responsibility for their own property. That sounds like many individuals who want the government to take away our guns and assume all duties for our protection.

Charles Tolleson