Strategic overview
The Strait of Malacca (SOM) is a major transoceanic route that connects the Pacific Ocean with the Indian Ocean enabling merchant vessels carrying cargo of various types to reduce their journey between these critical areas of commerce by over 500 miles. Currently, over 60,000 vessels pass through the strait each year providing a critical link between the east and west. It is estimated that over 1/3 of the worlds trade and nearly 1/2 of global crude oil supply pass through the strait each year. In 2009 over 13.6 bbl/d of crude oil was transported through the strait and these numbers are expected to rise as energy demands in increase in China, Japan, and other parts of South East Asia.
This steady increase in use, combined with shallow waters , narrow chokepoints , and significance diverse interest places the SOM at the forefront of strategic discussion. Any disruption to the flow of crude oil and trade goods through the straight would negatively impact most global economies proportionate to the time it remained closed and could devastate others. There are alternatives to transiting the strait; however, they are all costly and highly undesirable.
As is the case in many parts of the world where high rates of shipping take place, piracy and armed robbery at sea have been an ongoing problem causing global concern for the security and safety of transiting vessels . Although this concern has prompted a variety of attempts from various extra-regional nation states to implement controls and processes to secure vessel safety, the controlling littoral states of Singapore, Indonesia, and Malaysia have displayed vary degrees of resistance to any real attempts at outside intervention. ...
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... without the many successful initiatives and new found cooperation methods piracy and armed robbery at sea may unchecked may have risen instead of remaining relatively steady.
Roach, "Enhancing Maritime Security," 103.
Huang, "Building Maritime Security in Southeast Asia," 97.
Catherine Zara Raymond, "Piracy and Armed Robbery in the Malacca Strait: A Problem Solved?," Naval War College Review (Naval War College Press) 62, no. 3 (Summer 2009), 37.
Huang, "Building Maritime Security in Southeast Asia," 97.
Roach, "Enhancing Maritime Security," 106.
Pena, "Maritime Crime in the Strait of Malacca”, 7.
Ibid.
Huang, "Building Maritime Security in Southeast Asia," 96.
Ibid.
Ibid., 99.
Huang, "Building Maritime Security in Southeast Asia," 100.
Under the UN 1982 treaty, a state’s territorial sea extends twelve nautical miles from the national coastline (Slomanson 305). Within this area, Ecuador exercises its sovereignty over these waters as if it were a landmass (Slomanson 305). All aspects of the sea are under its control, including the seabed and airspace. Furthermore, Ecuador is allowed to impose laws that regulate the territory and consume resources that lie inside this defined area. Within this territorial sea, Ecuador “must exercise its sovereign power in this adjacent strip of water” (Slomanson 305). Additionally, Ecuador is expected to chart this water and to provide warning of navigational hazards (Slomanson 305). However, Ecuador did not act upon this and was “lax in enforcing it”. In 1951, the International Court of Justice issued this statement in response to a ruling:
The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic by Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker is an excellent source for a broad view of maritime Atlantic history. Linebaugh and Rediker cover a large area in their attempt to tie the rise of capitalism over a span of two hundred years in approximately 355 pages. The Many-Headed Hydra is broken down into nine chapters along with an introduction and conclusion. The overarching theme of this book truly is the development of the Atlantic proletariat attitudes, and the reason for it. This book contextualized numerous issues the maritime world had during these two hundred years. The beginning of the book describes a shipwreck of the Sea-Venture on the
Hinson, H. (1992, October 17). ‘The Panama Deception’ (NR). Washington Post. Retrieved May 4, 2014, from http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/movies/videos/thepanamadeceptionnrhinson_a0a7bd.htm
Schroeder, Richard C. “Should We Scuttle the Admiral of the Ocean Sea?” The Times of the Americas. 29 May 1991: 20+. (CIRS Schroed1.ART)
“A ship in the harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are built for.” A wise quote from John A. Shedd. A boat is secure inside the harbor, but it is useless. Inside a harbor, a boat can’t traverse oceans, set wars in motion, or discover new lands. Figuratively, we, the people, are the ships, and our safe haven is our comfort zone. Without reaching out of your comfort zone, you can’t conquer your world. You can’t make a difference. You need take a risk. Leave your safe haven and explore.
Modern piracy has touched nearly every corner of the globe and has increased with globalization. The tentacles of piracy now extend from South America to the South China Sea. The greatest numbers of piracy incidents occur along maritime commercial trade routes. Since China dominates the world’s container shipping industry, the South China Sea has become a hotspot for piracy (Kraska 2011). The prominence of cargo activity increases opportunity for pirates and indisputably triggered the sixty- nine incidents of piracy that were reported in 2009 in the South China Sea (Kraska 2011).
Phillips, Richard, and Stephan Talty. A captain's duty: Somali pirates, Navy Seals, and dangerous days at sea. New York: Hyperion, 2010.
INTRODUCTION : a brief overview of the current situation regarding the security issue in the Pacific region
The Golden Age of Piracy began around 1650, and ended around 1730. Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea, but can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the criminal. The term has been used throughout history to refer to raids across land borders by non-state agents. A pirate is one who commits robberies at sea, usually without being allotted to do so by any particular nation. The usual crime for piracy can include being hung, or publically executed. Some of the most famous pirates who were killed either because of piracy, or because of natural causes, are Barbarossa, Stede Bonnet, Anne Bonney, Sir Francis Drake, Captain Greaves, William Kidd, Jean Laffite, Sir Henry Morgan, Mary Read, and Giovanni da Verrazano.
Although merchant ships spend most of their lifetime outside the territorial waters, the current international maritime legal regime is ironically revolved around nationality of the vessel. Every vessel engaged in international trade must register in a country and is subjected to the regulatory control of that country whose flag it flies as per the existing international maritime law. Resultantly, any country has the right to allow a vessel to fly its national flag and to therefore bestow its nationality upon that vessel. When a vessel owner registers a vessel with a nation, the owner agrees to abide by that nation’s law and regulations of that ‘flag state’ in return for protection and the right of its vessel to be of that sovereign state. A system commonly known as “Flags of Convenience” (FOC) has developed, in which commercial vessels register in countries with “open registries” and consequently the ships contain practically no link at all to the flag states in which they are registered.
Although Britain cannot be blamed though for lack of trying, piracy still exists today. Yet, because the act continues at sea often far from land, it gains little media attention, and therefore less action from governments. China, despite being a number one producer of pirates, continues to deny that there is a problem while at the same time often pardoning those who are caught. Countries such as Indonesia and Philippines, which have been hardest hit in the past few years by pirates, are looking for international assistance. The West is, of course, looked to for solutions yet choose seemingly chooses to turn a blind eye, perhaps in the name of diplomacy. When the world is ready to combat the perpetual problem of piracy, it may discover that by intertwining tougher policies aimed at dealing with piracy with current or future trade negotiations, productive steps can be taken to initiate plans to curtail modern day sea wolves who prey on the helpless. The suggestion of ‘Piracy Charters’ will be discussed further as the means of which to add the topic of to multilateral agreements.
...li, Brita. "Defender of the Seas." E: The Environmental Magazine 23.1 (2012): 18-25. Academic Search Premier. Web. 30 Oct. 2013.
Currently, International system is focusing on issues related with maritime security. Maritime security coxncern with threats that prevail in the maritime domain (Klein 2011; Kraska and Pedrozo 2013; Roach 2004; Vrey 2010, 2013). These threats include interstate-dispute, terrorism, piracy, drugs trafficking, people and illicit foods, arms proliferation, illegal fishing, environmental crimes, as well as accidents and disaster which happen in maritime domain. Thus, generally, maritime security can be defined as the absence of those threats. Meanwhile, there is an argument that inter-states dispute should be categorized as national security instead of maritime security. Thus, there is another definition of maritime security which define maritime security as good or stable order at sea (Till 2004; Vrey 2010; Kraska and Pedrozo 2013: 1). The definition of maritime security from one to another is different as the scope of maritime security is broad and each actor has different point of view on the issue. There is no universal legal definition about maritime security. The United Nation itself only
Illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing, or pirate fishing, is a huge threat to the marine environment, it's bio diversity in food development is dependent on it. Losses due to pirate fishing are estimated to be between 10-23.5 billion U.S. dollars per year. Representing 11-26 million tons of fish. West African waters are estimated to have the highest levels of pirate fishing in the world. Fish is a crucial source of protein for millions of people. Fishing is the major coastal employment along the coast's. During a dramatic two year investigation, the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) has documented mass amounts of pirate fishing on the West Coast of Africa. Pirate fishermen are literally out of control. They are fishing in protected areas, destroying local fishermens nets and sabotaging them, hiding their names, and shipping their catch illegally at sea. They evade arrest, attack local fishermen, and abusing their own crews. The catches of these pirates have been entering the EU. the worlds largest import market for seafood. This is despite a new EU regulation. The regulation requires all fish imported into Europe to be accompanied by a catch certificate that asks for name, address, validating authority, fishing vessel name, license, and homeport. This is all declares that the catches have been declared legal.y 90% of the vessels documented by EJF fishing illegally are bottom trawlers. Bottom trawlers are are vessels that drag heavy nets across the sea bed catching all marine life in their path. Up to 75% of call the catches made on these vessels are dumped back into the sea, dead or dying. Fish is the principal source of protein for 2.9 billion people. But the United Nations recognizes 80% of the world's fisheries are e...
Bowermaster, Jon. Oceans: The Threats to Our Seas and What You Can Do to Turn the Tide: A Participant Media Guide. New York: PublicAffairs, 2010. Print.