History of Piracy and Marine Terrorism

 Piracy is one of the oldest of all professions. In ancient Greece, piracy seems to have
been widespread and widely regarded as an entirely honourable way of making a
living, and even during Roman times parts of the Mediterranean were infested with
pirates, provoking several naval campaigns to suppress them. With the fall of the
Roman Empire the incidence of piracy rose again and continued throughout the
Middle Ages. Well into the early modern and modern period, states would
occasionally find it advantageous to align themselves with pirates for raids against
their respective adversaries.
 During the ‘golden age of piracy,’ from around 1690 to 1730, pirates were sometimes
provided with lettres de marque by the British crown, which formally transformed
them from pirates into privateers, and more than one pirate-turned-privateer was
knighted by the crown, most (in)famously Sir Francis Drake. The UK thus used
privateering as the foundation for its gradual achievement of command of the sea,
employing a privatised guerre de course in the form of commerce raiding, and the
same was the case for other naval powers.

He said an important part of India's transformation is his vision of blue Economy. "The blue Chakra, the wheel in
our national flag, represents the potential of the blue economy. An essential part of this pursuit is the
development of India's coastal and island territories but not just for tourism. 

Read more at:

//economictimes.indiatimes.com/articleshow/50890820.cms?
utm_source=contentofinterest&utm_medium=text&utm_campaign=cppst

Fighting potential maritime terrorism and piracy cooperation between state institutions
and the private sector is crucial

Also helpful is the Container Security Initiative (CSI), initiated by the United States in 2002.
The aim of this programme is to identify – out of the 230 million containers which are 5
transported by sea every year – those containers with weapons of mass destruction or
dangerous nuclear substances which could be used by terrorists for their attacks. Containers,
designated for the United States, are checked at the harbour of departure. At present, US
officials are working in more than 46 harbours.
Given the configuration of modern naval warships, designed to counter the threat of other
modern Navies, it becomes clear that such ships are unsuitable to counter terrorists or counter
piracy operations. We can either resort to the private sector, which could protect cargo
vessels by deploying guards on board, or governments need to build and deploy suitable
naval vessels designed to counter this new threat. If we understand security policy in a more
comprehensive way, that means the political, economic, social, ecological and military
dimensions must be considered together and must be brought together, then maritime
terrorism can only be fought successfully in cooperation between state institutions and the
private sector.

Resemblances and Differences between Maritime Terrorism and Piracy

Factors important in distinguishing between piracy and marine terrorism:
1. Motives or aim
2. Preferred targets
3. Tactics
4. Operational reach

Probably the best distinction between pirates and terrorists is their motives, mostly financial
in the case of pirates and political where terrorists are concerned. In several cases, these
distinctions become blurred as in the case of MEND in the Niger Delta, Nigeria, where
kidnappings of oil workers had both a financial and political motive.

 As pirates’ motives are financial, it will affect the choice of target. Targets are chosen
for their value and vulnerability. Vessels that are easy to board with a small crew will
be a preferred target.
Terrorists choose vessels with a symbolic value, where casualties might be
higher or for the vessel’s potential use as a weapon.93
 Another distinction is the use of violence. In most cases, pirates try to prevent loss of
life for fear of retaliation by foreign navies. Currently, foreign navies in Somalia do
not interfere with ships once they have been pirated because of the risk piracy holds to
human life.
The opposite is true for terrorists where publicity usually increases with
greater loss of human life.
 Pirates make use of simple tactics.
 while terrorists use more sophisticated tactics.
 Piracy also takes place at local or regional level,
terrorists can have a more global reach in terms of objectives.