Tuna Vessels Prepare Anti-Piracy Defence
Spanish tuna boats operating in the Indian Ocean will now use hired guns to ward off Somali pirates by hiring private security guards armed with high-powered rifles. The Defense Ministry said Spain cannot station Marines on fishing boats – as the industry has requested and France is doing – because Spanish law does not allow the military to be used for protecting private property.
Instead, Spain has allowed Spanish flag tuna boats, operating in the Indian Ocean, to hire armed security guards, to provide protection against Somali pirates. There are 14 Spanish fishing vessels operating in the area, where about 20 percent of the world tuna catch is taken. The Spanish boats are over 200 feet long and have crews of about two dozen sailors. Last year, one of these boats was taken by Somali pirates, and was ransomed for $1.2 million. Several other tuna boats managed to escape pirate attacks.
Deputy Defense Minister Constantino Mendez explained that most of the 14 Spanish tuna trawlers operating in the Indian Ocean are based in the Basque country. Spain has had a number of encounters with pirates over the past two years, and Spanish navy vessels and a reconnaissance plane are taking part in an EU anti-piracy mission off the coast of Somalia. The waters off lawless Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden are notoriously dangerous, with pirates hijacking merchant ships and holding crew members for ransom. The International Maritime Bureau’s piracy reporting center in Kuala Lumpur says there have been 156 attacks so far this year.
Earlier this year, Spain said it would allow guards, armed with pistols, on these fishing ships. The fishing boat owners protested, pointing out that pistols would only be useful once the pirates were actually boarding. So this has been changed to allow rifles, as the pirates are usually armed with machine-guns and rocket propelled grenade launchers.
As always, the most important defense against pirates is alertness. That means spotting the pirates before they get too close, and staying in touch with the anti-piracy patrols, and other commercial ships in the area, who can provide information about where the pirates have been seen operating. The increased fear of pirates is largely because the pirates are operating over a much larger area.
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