The Tribune

By CELESTE NIXON

Tribune Staff Reporter

cnixon@tribunemedia.net

WITH modern day pirates costing the international economy some $12 billion per year, the Bahamas and the United States have opened discussions to fight against maritime piracy, said Minister of State for Aviation and Transport Hope Strachan.

During opening remarks at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday, US Charg� d’affaires John Dinkelman said these meetings provide an opportunity to share information on a “critical issue” and seeks to advance international coordination and anti-piracy efforts.

“We are hoping in today’s meeting to explore how our two nations can expand its cooperation on counter-piracy and identify areas in which the United States might assist building Bahamian counter-piracy capacity through information sharing, training and/or other resources,” he said.

While piracy does not occur in Bahamian waters, Mr Dinkelman said, piracy not only threatens individual ships, but has an “enormous” impact on the world’s trade and transport industry.

According to Mr Dinkelman, the global economy loses between 7 to 12 billion dollars a year, as a result of piracy.

“While piracy is certainly not a new problem,” he said, “its modern reincarnation threatens one of the pillars of the global economic system – the freedom of navigation. People in countries around the world depend on secure and reliable shipping for their food, their medicine, their energy, and consumer goods.

“As a maritime nation with one of the largest ship registries in the world, the Bahamas is acutely aware of the risks and costs of piracy and has a vested interest in joining global efforts to stop piracy wherever it occurs.”

Pledging to fully support counter piracy efforts, Mrs Strachan said the Bahamas has implemented several security and prevention measures.

These include vessel protection and assistance schemes, registration and position reporting procedures, implementation of anti-piracy measures, an automatic identification system, long range identification and tracking policy, procedures for alerting and reporting pirate attacks or suspicious activities and pre and post piracy planning, she said.

In order for international coordinated efforts to be effective, Mrs Strachan said the identity, location and intended course of ships must be known.

Therefore, Ms Strachan said all Bahamian vessels will be required to register with the Maritime Security Centre Horn of Africa four days before entering risk areas.