In the last 300 years, little progress has been made concerning maritime trade. Though ships may have evolved from sails to gasoline engines, piracy remains a nuisance to much of the world’s seaborne trade. Recently, a spate of pirate attacks off the coast of Somalia has brought a great deal of media attention to these modern pirates.

Currently, several ships and at least 200 crewmen are being held captive. These pirates relay information through an official spokesperson about their current captives, including their demand for ransom for ships and crew that is often well in excess of a million dollars. Once the ransom is delivered, the pirates depart to harass another vessel.

Modern piracy is run by pirate elders who lay a set of rules or a code for other pirates to follow. A major part of this code is the condition that hostages should not be killed.

Though pirates supposedly follow this code, they are still without honor. The U.S.-flagged ship taken by pirates was not carrying some sort of pirate booty but humanitarian aid. The main reason the hostage rule exists is that killing hostages would spark such an outrage that it could cause seafaring nations to actually try and stop the pirates, as opposed to the current pathetic policing efforts.

The U.S, as well as many other nations, have sent warships to the region. However, when the waterway is more than a million kilometers in area, these diesel-burning security cameras are of little use. Furthermore, due to hazardous cargo or fear of mutiny, most crews do not carry weapons. The only way for crews to fight pirates is through swerving and using high-powered water hoses against their boats and ladders.

While the pirates seldom harm their captives, they extract large ransoms from the shipping line for both the cargo and the crew. Thus, a successful pirate attack drives up the cost of shipping insurance. The outcome is higher consumer prices for any good that travels the ocean. In the face of these threats to international trade, the world has not even figured out what to do with captured pirates.

When pirates surrender, the prior remedy of hanging is no longer considered an option. Somalia has no real judicial system and, though Kenya has offered to help in these trials, the nation has not proven its reliability. In many cases, pirates are dropped off and are free to obtain more boats and roam about harassing additional ships and holding other innocent crews hostage.

There are two possible ways to stop piracy, but only one is being discussed. That current option is an attack on the inland bases the pirates use. It would be a major surprise if President Barack Obama’s administration eventually approves such a measure after the fiasco that was Bill Clinton’s intervention in Somalia.

The other solution is an easy one – arm the crews. As evidenced by the actions of American sailors under the latest pirate attack, there is no reason shipping companies cannot trust a trained American crew to fight pirates with guns. At the very least, it will deter pirates from attacking U.S.-flagged ships.

Until nations decide to take strong preventative measures and offer harsher penalties to those who dare commit acts of piracy, these attacks will continue. Piracy is too profitable and too easy for these desperate people. Until that changes, shipping around the Horn of Africa will continue to be plagued by the scourge of piracy. The next time an American crew is attacked, there may not be a happy ending.