Piracy in the Indian Ocean  Monday, May 23, 2011  Somali based
pirates continue to cause serious challenges to merchant vessels
transiting the Indian Ocean. At the time of writing, EU NAVFOR
statistics indicate that there are 26 vessels and 582 crew held
captive off the coast of Somalia (not taking into account an
unknown number of smaller dhows and fishing vessels that have
been seized). Moreover, the International Maritime Bureau (IMB)
reported that Somali pirates hijacked 49 vessels in 2010, an
increase from 47 in 2009. With the use of hijacked mother ships,
Somali pirates proved that they are capable of operating for
extended periods of time in areas further out to sea; a trend
that has continued in the first months of 2011.  Although large
mother ships enable pirates to operate at sea for longer periods
of time, resulting in an extended sphere of operations, they
also allow coalition forces in the region to track them.
Throughout December 2010, it was assessed that there were eight
mother ships operating