December 3, 2007: You don't hear much about piracy
in the Persian Gulf, but there's actually quite a lot of it. However, it's not
the spectacular "seize a ship and hold it for ransom" stuff you see off the
coast of Somalia. Nor is it the kind where a bunch of gunmen in a speedboat
come alongside a large merchant ship at night, scramble aboard and rob the
crew, and grab all the portable electronics they can carry away. In the Persian
Gulf, the pirates operate more like common thieves, looking for isolated
fishing boats or small cargo craft, boarding them, and stealing the GPS ,
radio, cash, and anything else the crew might have. These are maritime
muggings. The only warships out in international waters, where most of the
robberies take place, are U.S. and NATO ships guarding the oil transport lanes,
and offshore Iraqi oil facilities. So the fishermen try to stay as close to
these warships as much as possible, secure in the knowledge that the pirates
avoid these warships as much as possible. Thus you will often see warships slowly
patrolling, out in the middle of the Persian Gulf, followed by a gaggle of
fishing boats, trolling for fish, and protection from the pirates.
