CAIRO: Australian scientists have been forced to withdraw research vessels from up to one fourth of the Indian Ocean due to the threat of pirate attacks. They have also been unable to distribute floating weather monitoring devices that provide essential data to researchers for everything from predicting the next season's rainfall patterns to monitoring the rise in ocean temperature, an important indicator of global climate change. Ann Thresher of the Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO), Australia's national science agency, explains that because of increased pirate activity, researchers have not been able to make weather observations or gather measurements in an increasing swath of the Indian Ocean. These measurements are vital for accurate weather prediction and the prediction of ocean currents, CNN reports. Changes and trends in weather patterns, temperature levels, ocean salinity, and evaporation in the Indian Ocean are important variables that are used to predict future rainfall patterns in Australia, specifically, as well as greater weather patterns Asia, Thresher continues. CSIRO has enlisted the navies of Australian and United States to carry floating data-gathering devices into dangerous territory in an effort to fill the gap in their data, but this is just a stop-gap measure. Dr. Thresher tells the Herald-Sun, “The navies are happy to help when they can but it's a difficult process. When you've got a commercial vessel going from Melbourne to Germany you know its route. The navy is more ad hoc, they go where they need to be and they don't necessarily tell you about it beforehand.” Piracy According to a 2010 report published by the International Maritime Bureau, a division of the International Chamber of Commerce, since 2008, acts of piracy have dramatically increased in waters near the Somali coast, with the number of attacks more than doubling from 111 in 2008 to 217 in 2009. Since 2008 United States, the European Union, NATO, Russia, China, Iran, Japan, and India have contributed warships to policing the Gulf of Aden, the Persian Gulf, and the Indian Ocean. While increased militarization of the Indian Ocean has made piracy more difficult and driven down the number of successful attacks – according to the United States Department of State, the percent of successful boardings has fallen to just 25 percent in 2009 from 60 percent in 2007 – it has not solved the problem. As it becomes more expensive and risky for pirates to operate, they have demanded larger ransom payments, employed increasingly radical rhetoric, expanded their area of operation east and south in the Indian Ocean, and sought more sophisticated tactics and weapons, according to Piracy Studies. Reuters reports that Somali pirates used a rocket-propelled grenade (RPG) in an attack on an oil tanker earlier this month, which represents an alarming and unprecedented upgrade in their weapons capabilities. The BBC chronicled an attack on a Turkish ship in March 2010 that took place 1,100 miles away from Somalia; much closer to the Indian coast than to Somali pirate bases. BM
