Stepped up naval patrols in the Gulf of Aden have contributed to a worldwide decline in pirate attacks, although the risk of piracy off Somalia remained high, a maritime watchdog said Wednesday.
Sixty-seven incidents of piracy and armed robbery on the high seas were reported around the world in the three months to March, down from 102 in the same period last year, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB) said.
The decrease was attributed at least partly to a dramatic decline in attacks in the Gulf of Aden, where reported incidents fell to 17 from 41 last year.
"With the increased naval presence in the Gulf of Aden, stopping and disarming suspicious pirates, the pirates did not have a chance to launch their attacks," Noel Choong, head of the IMB's piracy reporting centre in Kuala Lumpur told AFP.
Since 2008 an international armada has been patrolling the Gulf of Aden, one of the world's busiest maritime trade routes, in a bid to stop pirates from hijacking commercial vessels.
Choong said that attacks by Somali pirates remained high and that the number in the first quarter was "hard to be used as a projection for the whole year."
Continue reading the article on www.news.malaysia.msn.com
