Ina report issued Thursday it said 188 incidents took place in the firstnine months of 2013, down from 233 for the same period last year.

Hostage-takinghas also fallen markedly, with 266 people taken hostage this year, comparedwith 458 in the first three quarters of 2012.

Inthe first nine months of 2013, IMB’s global figures show pirates hijacked tenships, fired at 17, and boarded 140. A further 21 attacks were thwarted.

Intotal 266 crew were taken hostage and 34 kidnapped. One seafarer was killed,twenty were injured, and one is reported missing.

“Althoughthe number of attacks is down overall, the threat of attacks remains,particularly in the waters off Somalia and in the Gulf of Guinea,” said IMBDirector Pottengal Mukundan.

Attacksin seas around Somalia continued to fall dramatically, with just 10 incidentsattributed to Somali pirates this year, down from 70 in the same nine months of2012.

IMBattributes this improvement to the actions of naval forces engaged inanti-piracy operations, security teams on board vessels, ships complying withthe industry’s best management practices, and the stabilizing influence of theCentral Government of Somalia.

Butit warned that as monsoons subside in the North West Indian Ocean the weatherwill become more conducive for small pirate skiffs to operate again.

Only last Friday Sinochem’s296,900-dwt VLCC Island Splendor (built 2011) was targeted by pirates offSomalia.

TheIMB said with fewer attacks off Somalia, attention has moved to the Gulf ofGuinea, a hotspot for violent piracy and ship hijacking for many years.

Theregion recorded more than 40 attacks in the first three quarters of 2013, with132 crew taken hostage and seven vessels hijacked.

TheGulf of Guinea accounted for all crew kidnappings worldwide, 32 of them offNigeria, and two off Togo.

Nigeria,the main source of piracy in the region, accounted for 29 incidents,including two hijackings, 11 boardings, 13 vessels fired upon and threeattempted attacks.

Elsewhere in theworld, IMB said one area of rising armed robbery attacks is Indonesia, where 68low-level attacks were reported.