While hijacked ships, many of them fishing boats, is a worrisome problem for security, blame for the start of the piracy most likely needs to come at least partially back to the same countries that are now common victims.
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226-07 as declaring the “goal of patrols was so that fishing could occur safely in the region.” And a January BBC article (“Somali Piracy ‘Reduced Tuna Haul,'” 22 January 2009) reported that the Indian Ocean tuna fishery, worth up to $6B, experienced a decline in catches of 30%, with Spain and France reporting decreases of 50%. A Washington Post article (“Pirates Release Ships to US Navy,” 5 November 2007) quoted US Naval Forces Central Command News Release No. While the safety of commercial shipping lanes is a key focus of Western Nations in this area, governments have made it clear that the safety of the area for fishing vessels is also a key priority.
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In 2008 over 70 hijackings were reported (NY Times: “Somalias Pirates Flourish in a Lawless Nation,” 30 October 2008). The increasing activity of pirates in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of the failed state of Somalia, has been consistently present in the international news for the past several years, and has turned the waters off Somalia into the most dangerous shipping lanes in the world.