An international seapower symposium was held in New Port, Rhode Island, USA under the aegis of the US Naval War College. The theme of the 20th edition of the symposium was “Security and Prosperity through Maritime Partnerships.”
Over 110 nations, with 75 heads of Navy and 22 heads of Coast Guard, attended the Symposium. Chief of Indian Navy Admiral Nirmal Verma addressed the symposium in its inaugural session on Wednesday.
Drawing attention of the world leaders of Navies and Coast Guards to the need for united action against piracy, Admiral Verma reflected the Indian stand that “the international efforts towards combating piracy would benefit if there were fewer disparate task forces and independent naval operations. India’s relative autonomy of efforts towards combating piracy off Somalia can be traced to its preference for a UN mandated operations which we believe if adopted would holistically enhance the efficacy of operations”.
Elaborate Network
According to Admiral Verma, “The difference today is that piracy at sea which was previously primarily robbery has now morphed into an elaborate network of operations to extract enormous quantities of ransom.”
Ransom amounts have increased to an average of $5.4 million per ship, from just $150,000 five years ago. According to a recent study by One Earth Future the economic cost of piracy maybe as high as $12 billion a year. This translates into increased operating costs, environmental expenses view rerouting of ships and most importantly, tremendous human costs.
The roots of piracy are diverse; predominantly, political instability which has created a void of governance and economic opportunities ashore resulting in the manifestation of this menace at sea. Also worth reflecting upon, are the Somalian claims that the origins of piracy can be traced back to illegal fishing by other countries and dumping of toxic waste in their EEZ, said Admiral Verma.
Despite multinational efforts, the number of incidents and net effects of piracy are on the increase with seasonal variations on account of the monsoons and geographic shifts dependent on the presence of naval units. The international efforts off the Gulf of Aden have resulted in piracy spreading to other areas of the Indian Ocean which had not experienced these attacks earlier.
Some of these areas have been not too distant from India’s Lakshadweep and Mincoy group of islands. It has become evident that pirates are changing their modus of operations as they have been observed to use hijacked merchant vessels as mother ships. This has given them an extended reach of over 1000 nautical miles from the Somali coast.
Cancerous Potential
Admiral Verma said that it is important that efforts be cultivated before what is at present a relatively benign problem of piracy, develops a nexus with radical terrorism which has a cancerous potential.
According to Admiral Verma, “What is required is the collaborative engagement of both major maritime powers as well as the littoral states. The importance of littoral states towards a viable solution was best amplified by the success of the South-East Asian countries to combat piracy.”
India is particularly concerned about the safety of mariners in the Indian Ocean since its is geographically centred aside the major shipping routes in the region. Units of the Indian Navy have been tasked to carry out escorts in the Gulf of Aden, irrespective of their nationality, since October 2008.
So far, of the nearly 1800 ships that have been escorted by the Indian Navy in the Gulf of Aden, more than 80% have been flying flags other than Indian.
He concluded with the reflection that, the international efforts towards combating piracy would benefit if there were fewer disparate task forces and independent naval operations. India’s relative autonomy of efforts towards combating piracy off Somalia can be traced to its preference for a UN mandated operations which he believes if adopted would holistically enhance the efficacy of operations.
