Why is Piracy a Major Problem?

Some U.S. citizens, myself included, may question why we should care about piracy. Who cares about what happens off the coast of Somalia, right? Wrong. When the ship Maersk Alabama was hijacked by pirates and Captain Richard Phillips was taken hostage, it was the duty of the U.S. government to get him back safe and sound. The Maersk Alabama was a ship flying the American colors and therefore is protected by the U.S. government. Not only do these pirate attacks endanger U.S. citizens, they also have some other negative impacts. In a report published by the research corporation RAND, the think tank cited numerous issues associated with piracy. This report was presented to the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee on Feb. 4, 2009 and can be found here: http://www.rand.org/pubs/testimonies/2009/RAND_CT317.pdf. One reason they gave was

"piracy also has a direct economic impact in terms of fraud, stolen cargos and
delayed trips and could undermine a maritime state’s trading ability."

Estimates of the cost of piracy range from $1 billion to $16 billion to the maritime industry. Another reason listed was

"Politically, piracy can play a pivotal role in undermining and weakening
governing legitimacy by encouraging corruption among elected officials and
bureaucrats."

One example of this is Indonesia, a major piracy "hot spot" where corruption is relatively widespread. Here is a list countries and their corruption rankings as published by the organization, Transparency International. Notice that Indonesia is ranked T-143 and Somalia is ranked last at T-179. http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0781359.html. The last reason given was that piracy could have a negative environmental impact. The scenario was if pirates left an oil tanker adrift in a heavily trafficked water-way, another ship might collide with it, resulting in a catastrophic oil spill. This would be extremely damaging to nearby nations, especially if those nations relied on the ocean for food. There have also been instances of piracy in the Caribbean and if the problem in Somalia isn't curbed, pirates in the Caribbean may be emboldened and we may see an increase in pirate attacks in the region. If this were to happen, a cruise to the Caribbean may not seem like such a great vacation anymore. Piracy also threatens the food aid from the U.S. bound for impoverished people in Africa as well as important equipment shipments to our troops in the region. As the world becomes more globally connected, it is important that we as citizens care about international issues because these issues always find a way of impacting us.