Tag: maritime crime

The United Nations Contact Group on Piracy in the Western Indian Ocean has been advised to pay attention to increased cases of migrant smuggling and illegal fishing, as it expands its focus following a decrease in piracy activity in the region.

Bo Jiang and Gary LaFree have published a paper which tests the possibility that climate change affects participation in maritime piracy, depending on the specific ways that it impacts regional fish production.

The National Vehicle Crime Intelligence Service (NaVCIS) published the report "Profile of HGV, Freight & Cargo crime across England & Wales 2022".

Mozambican assembly passed a bill to activate the maritime courts nationwide as part of the country's effort to fight a growing trend of offshore crimes including piracy, illegal fishing, and terrorism.

New research prepared for Oceana’s Transparent Oceans Initiative has used global data to analyze the links between illegal fishing and other maritime crimes, like forced labor, drug trafficking, and money laundering, finding fishing-related crime is highly concentrated and sanctions are often inadequate.

Mr. Michael Howlett, Director, International Maritime Bureau, ICC Commercial Crime Services, outlines the key challenges with regards to maritime piracy, highlighting that crew kidnapping in GoG remains the biggest area of concern. Furthermore, considering that available resources to deal with maritime crime are limited, incident reporting remains critical.

SafeSeas, Stable Seas and ONE EARTH FUTURE issued a report focusing on the environmental crimes within the maritime context.

British security intelligence firm Dryad Global issued its annual report for 2020, providing an overview of piracy trends worldwide. The report reveals that robberies are the most prevalent incident type in West Africa, but kidnapping incidents remain unacceptably high in Gulf of Guinea. Meanwhile, incidents in Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia remain low. 

Last week, 76 port and maritime supply chain representatives from 12 countries got together in a Port Stakeholders’ Workshop to agree on measures regarding wildlife trafficking through Mombasa Port, the largest port in Africa and key exit point of African wildlife trafficking, highlighting the urgent need for action against illegal wildlife trade.

Agents from US Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations facilitated the seizure of over three tons of drugs in late March 2019. Namely, a Navy ship discovered 6,100 pounds of marijuana destined for the US, on board a panga-style vessel off the coast of Central America. The US Coast Guard and Navy teams seized the narcotics and sank the vessel as a danger to navigation.