Latest ONI Worldwise Threat to Shipping Report (to 12 April 06)

For the latest ONI WTTSR go here and click on the date. Highlights:

SOMALIA: South Korean fishing vessel (DONG WON No 628)
hijacked 04 Apr while underway in position 04:54N 049:21 E, off the
east coast of Somalia. Coalition warships USS Roosevelt and HNLMS
Zeven Provencien responded to distress calls but were unable to
persuade the hijackers to release the vessel and broke off the pursuit
out of concern for the safety of the victims. Abdi Garaad Daahir,
a militia spokesman contacted by The Associated Press via
two-way radio, said fighters from his clan had captured the vessel
fishing illegally in Somalia’s territorial waters. South Korea
disputed this saying the pirates seized the vessel in international
waters and later took it to Somalia’s waters. ONI Note: according
to the CIA world fact book, Somalia claims a 200 nm territorial
sea; however, under article three of the United Nations Convention
on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), every State has the right to
establish the breadth of its territorial sea up to a limit not
exceeding 12 nm. UNCLOS also defines the exclusive economic zone
(EEZ) as an area beyond and adjacent to the territorial sea,
subject to the specific legal regime established in UNCLOS, under
which the rights and jurisdiction of the coastal State and the
rights and freedoms of other States are governed by the relevant
provisions of the Convention. Article 57 states the EEZ shall not
extend beyond 200 nautical miles from the baselines from which
the breadth of the territorial sea is measured (AP, ONI, IMB).

Otherwise, a collection of "suspicious" activity by small boats approaching ships in areas known to be pirate-active and the usual robberies by thugs climbing aboard ships to rob the crew or steal what isn't nailed down.