Since August 2009, NATOships have patrolled the waters off the Horn of Africa as part of internationalefforts to fight piracy and to help build the capacity of regional navies.
“Operation Ocean Shield works closely with other navalforces patrolling the Indian Ocean including US-led maritime forces and EUnaval forces,” NATO said.
“As part of the broad international effort, Ocean Shieldhas helped to significantly reduce pirate activity in the region.
“In 2011, pirates captured 24 ships and NATO recorded 129pirate attacks off Somalia. In 2012, the number of attacks had fallen to 20.
“Not a single ship has been captured off Somalia sinceMay 2012, and no merchant ships are currently held by Somali pirates.
“Despite the successes, piracy remains a threat. NATOassesses that pirates continue to posses the intent and capacity to attackships.
“NATO ships continue to detect attempts by pirates to capture vessels.In addition, the root causes of piracy inside Somalia remain.”
Ships from Spain, Italyand Turkey are currently part of the NATO fleet which operates roughly from theArabian Gulf to the north, the Seychelles in the south, the Gulf of Aden to thewest and the Maldives in the east.
