Unfortunately, that vision of pirates is vastly different from the reality. Piracy is still very much in existence, and pirates themselves are not romantic figures. Statistics from the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) indicate that the practice is on the rise, as the number of attacks on ships by pirates rose from 239 in 2006 to 263 in 2007, a 10% increase.

Modern day piracy is about money, not blood, guts, and pillaging. It is defined as the capture of a ship for reasons that may include kidnapping those on board for ransom, robbing the ship of its cargo or the crew of their possessions, sabotaging the ship, or murdering the crew. The IMB’s statistics indicate that of the 239 attacks that occurred in 2006, the last year for which complete data is available, 77 crew members were kidnapped and 188 were taken hostage, while only 15 were murdered. This is indicative of the primarily economic motivations behind piracy, particularly in areas like Somalia.

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has been a threat to international shipping since the beginning of Somalia’s civil war in the early 1990’s. According to Kenya’s Foreign Minister, Moses Wetangula, Somali pirates were paid $150 million in ransom money from November 2007 to November 2008. More than 95 pirate attacks occurred off the Somali coast in 2008, and these show no signs of slowing down. The IMB’s Live Piracy Report indicates that there have been six pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia since March 5th, 2009.

There are a variety of factors that contribute to the high rates of piracy in Somalia. According to World Bank Statistics, Somalia is one of the poorest countries in the world, with an estimated per capita GDP of $600 a year and approximately 73% its population living on an income of less than two dollars a day. In such an environment, the relative wealth that piracy provides is very lucrative, and many young people are drawn to the more luxurious lifestyle that brigdandry allows them to have.

The instability in Somalia since the civil war in the early 1990’s has also allowed piracy to flourish. Clashes between Islamist fighters and the Transitional Federal Government are common, and the government has done little to combat piracy near its shores. This is spite of the fact that piracy had made it difficult for the United Nations to provide aid to the people of Somalia.

In fact, the government of Puntland, an autonomous region in the northeast of Somalia where many of the pirates are from, is accused of being complicit in the many pirate attacks that originate in that region. While such a government is in place, it is impossible to address the issue of piracy in Somalia. Only a stable, functional government will be able to address the issue of piracy once and for all, by policing its own waters as well as welcoming the assistance of other nations. Therefore, if we wish to end the scourge of piracy in Somalia, we must first address the unstable political and economic situations in the country.