Somali piracy has been brought to the surface by the abduction of a couple, which has been widely publicised, however, they create a much deeper risk on a day to day basis which is not put on the news or published in the news papers. Some of these issues come under the jurisdiction of maritime security. Maritime security covers a fairly long list of things to do with naval operations, such as; security of ports, shipping and cargo. It is carried out by select teams of people, often hired from private firms, who will help protect the sea coast of any country.

As few know, the Somali pirates have actually captured over 400 vehicles from fishing boats to Chinese cargo ships and have estimated to have made over 40 million dollars in random claims and selling vehicles through black market methods. They are not legal and not even accepted as legal by their own country, so do not go around thinking they are acting on behalf of Somalia: they just think that they are and see what they are doing as right because of this. This is, of course, not the case though and you need to be very wary of them and watch out for any signs of danger when out at sea.

Although lovable cartoons like to play pirates out to be deadly but reasonable and somewhat funny happy men, the reality could not be further from the truth. Not only are Somali pirates fully armed with the latest in machine technology, they are also well versed in the ways of capture, hijacking and the killing of many innocent people every year. With more and more people trying to 'have an adventure' there is a much greater risk that these Somali pirates, or as they prefer to be called, 'volunteer coast guards' will end up capturing your vessel, pillaging everything you own and then try and ransom you to your country. Unfortunately they do not negotiate with terrorists and therefore you will either be saved when they are found, sold as a slave of some sort or simply killed, since they no longer have use for you. Thus, it is important that you never get yourself in a situation where you may be at risk of the pirates and take as many precautions as possible.