UN: Anti-piracy Measures Help In Bringing Down Successful Pirate Attacks
1/29/2010 4:44 PM ET

(RTTNews) - Anti-piracy measures have contributed considerably in bringing down successful pirate attacks off the Somali coast, said a senior official linked to the UN-backed EU anti-piracy mission off Somalia.

"The number of attacks has gone up; the number of successful attacks has gone down," Captain Paul Chivers, chief of staff of the EU naval forces, told a news conference. "It would be dangerous to assume we have overcome the threat. We need to be careful of complacency."

He said the proposed anti-piracy measures for ships include the registration of the destination and route of the vessels with the international forces operating in the region and other self protection measures designed to prevent pirates from getting on board.

Chivers said that the self protection measures that can be used by ships to prevent pirates from climbing on board included fencing with barbed wire and pieces of wood at ship entries, charged fire hydrants and zig-zagging courses for ships at sea."Most of these things, besides barbed wire, are found on ships" Chivers said. "The more a ship is able to deny pirate entry onto their vessel, the quicker we can get a warship or helicopter to them." More!