Do pirates still exist?

_Elsa_

“So if you are pirates, are you considered the same kind of pirates as back then?” asks Tiffi. 

Barnacle Bill smiles as he shares modern pirates with Tiffi.

‘Most people conjure up the image of a man with an eye patch and a peg leg with a parrot when they think of pirates, assuming a person illegally downloading software doesn't come to mind. What many people are not aware of is that modern piracy on the high seas costs the global economy billions of dollars. Some regions of the global ocean are deemed extremely dangerous including the waters surrounding Indonesia and Somalia. Piracy attacks number in the hundreds annually, according to the International Maritime Bureau.

Piracy is carried out for the cargo aboard ships, which are sometimes either sunk or retrofitted so that they cannot be identified. These “ghost ships” are used to carry out additional pirate attacks and move illegal goods globally. Most of these ships are eventually recovered by their owners. Pirates are especially common in Southeast Asia and off the coast of Africa, where unstable local governments have resulted in a power vacuum, easily filled by pirates.

Two favorite targets of pirates are supertankers or very large crude carriers, ships designed to carry an extremely large amount of expensive cargo. These ships are slow moving, and therefore make easy targets, especially in areas which are difficult to navigate. In most cases, the ships are almost fully automated, and therefore have a limited staff to defend against pirates. Several major shipping companies have begun implementing measures to try and counteract piracy, but these measures are sometimes countered from within by mutinies and takeovers carried out by the staff of the ship. Murder of crew members has been known to happen, with death by piracy an unfortunate fact for some merchant mariners.

Modern day pirates began to be a growing threat in the year 2000, with a 60 percent increase in pirate attacks over the year before. Increasing global instability contributes to the threat of piracy, with a limited number of nations beginning to take steps against the pirates infesting their coastal waters. Several global bodies monitor piracy, including the International Chamber of Commerce, which also provides suggestions for avoiding and repelling pirate attacks.’ (Source)

“Before I continue I want to tell you that we are not the typical modern pirates,” says Barnacle Bill. “let me share more about modern pirates and then we can tell you what we do.”

Let’s continue - Unsettling Facts About Modern Pirates

Start at the beginning – Kimmy meets some pirates