Navy Adm. Mark P. Fitzgerald, commander of U.S. naval forces in Europe and Africa and of NATO’s Allied Joint Task Force Command Naples, suggested that commercial vessels should arm themselves when traveling through pirate-infested waters off the Somali coast. told Pentagon reporters that the scope of the piracy problem is too great to be policed by military vessels alone. Fitzgerald, a top Navy commander, told that the scope of the piracy problem is too great to be policed by military vessels alone.
“We could put a World War II fleet of ships out there,” Fitzgerald said, referring to the Gulf of Aden and the Mozambique Channel off the Indian coast, “and we still wouldn’t be able to cover the whole ocean.”
On an average day, 30 to 40 ships comprising international maritime forces monitor pirate activity in the Somali basin and the western Indian Ocean, Fitzgerald said, adding that five to 10 of these ships at any given time are American vessels.
Another issue, the admiral said, is what to do with pirates who are captured. The international community, he explained, has not yet answered the question of how to bring to justice pirates captured at sea. This issue has come to the fore with the recent capture of five suspected pirates by the crew of the USS Nicholas in the Indian Ocean west of the Seychelles.
“Catch and release is not a very good option,” Fitzgerald said. “How do we deal with this? We’ve got to come to some kind of solution.”
“Commercial ships should take appropriate protections,” Admiral Fitzgerald added, “because we cannot offer 100-percent guarantees of protection as the ships go through.”
Photo by PhotoStudio.org
Due to the intricacies of international law, ship security guards do not always carry weapons. Israeli practice of placing armed security teams on commercial vessel proved the most successful today. Israeli maritime security teams find themselves in high demand due to their experience, reputation and military training.
