Tag: maritime piracy

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More powers for European Maritime Safety Agency

EMSA will help EU member states fight pollution and piracy The European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) will be able to help EU member states fight pollution from offshore oil and gas platforms if asked, after MEPs approved on 11 December a proposal to extend its responsibilities. The agency will also assist with the fight against piracy and reducing red tape at EU ports. The regulation will enter into force in all member states within the next few weeks.Under the new rules, EMSA will be able to deal with pollution caused by offshore oil and gas rigs at the request of the member states involved..Today its specialised anti-pollution vessels can intervene only in cases of pollution from ships.In addition, EMSA will contribute to fighting piracy by providing data, simplifying administrative procedures for ships by informing national customs authorities of ships' movements via its monitoring system SafeSeaNet, and improving the training of seafarers by sharing best practice."EMSA will not replace or duplicate member states' work: it will bring added value. It should play a much bigger role in supporting national authorities," said German Social Democrat MEP Knut Fleckenstein, who was responsible for steering the proposal through Parliament.Source: European Parliament News

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Defining piracy in the Gulf of Guinea

How piracy in the Gulf of Guinea is different from that off Somalia In July last year President Boni Yayi of Benin sent a worried letter to the UN secretary-general. His country was being threatened by the activities of pirates, who were scaring shipping away from the ports on which his country's revenues depend. He wanted international help of the kind which had been deployed against piracy off the coast of Somalia.His letter put the issue of piracy off the West African coast onto the world agenda. The attacks continue and still cluster in the vicinity of Benin and its neighbour, Nigeria, but despite UN missions and a Security Council debate, the international community is still unsure of the best way to proceed.On 6 December Coventry University organized a conference on Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea, in collaboration with London's Chatham House. One thing which emerged very clearly from the sessions was that what is being called piracy in this area is very different from piracy off the East African coast, and the kind of international naval deployment used against Somali pirates is unlikely to help.In fact Chris Trelawny, deputy director of the Maritime Safety Division at the ...

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