Gaining Understanding

Researchers at a Canadian university are hoping to come up with a new approach to dealing with piracy by looking at the problem from a number of angles.

The work being led by the marine affairs program at Dalhousie University, Halifax will include an examination of the costs of piracy to seafarers and coastal states.

 Program director Lucia Fanning says the project will look at economics, law, politics and security.

With a number of universities, as well as the One Earth Future, “Oceans Beyond Piracy” study, looking at the wider aspects of piracy it is to be hoped that by gaining a real insight and understanding of the problems which lead to piracy then we will be better placed to counter them.

It seems clear that despite the vast investment made to keep the naval presence in the Indian Ocean, that it is having only limited and isolated success. In order to effectively fight piracy we need to break it down into its constituent parts, and we need to break the chains between them.