Piracy is on the rise, and coronavirus could make it worse

May 15, 2020

Hostages and pirates stand with their hands up before the intervention of Dutch NATO soldiers off Somalia's coast in this NATO handout photo made available April 18, 2009. Dutch commandos freed 20 Yemeni hostages on Saturday and briefly detained seven pirates who had forced the Yemenis to sail a "mother ship" attacking vessels in the Gulf of Aden, NATO officials said.

2020 has seen a 24% increase in pirate attacks and coronavirus could cause sn increase, as countries are crippled by the pandemic Image: REUTERS/NATO/Handout

Brandon Prins

Professor of Political Science & Global Security, University of Tennessee

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The world's oceans are getting safer from pirates

The annual evolution of annual piracy incidents Image: IMB Piracy Reporting Centre and Maritime Piracy Event and Location Data Project

In a photo from 2012, masked Somali pirate Hassan stands near a Taiwanese fishing vessel that washed up on a Somali shore after the pirates were paid a ransom and released the crew.

A masked Somali pirate Image: AP Photo/Farah Abdi Warsameh

Overall piracy drops, but some places remain dangerous

Piracy in the Americas and off the coast of West Africa Image: IMB Piracy Reporting Centre

How piracy numbers are sizing up for 2020 Image: IMB Piracy Reporting Centre

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