People can criticize the judgment of anyone sailing in that area, but some coordinated international action should have been launched against these pirates a few years back. It's beyond pathetic that a bunch of thugs in rubber boats have been allowed to keep this up for several years.
Predator/Hellfire strikes could stop it tomorrow.
Catching pirates no the ocean is like catching ants one-by-one with tweezers at a picnic.
You go to the nest, and destroy it.
In the case of pirates, they cannot function without sanctuary in pirate ports. Their basic raiding boat is a 25 foot open boat with a big outboard. These are readily visible jammed together in the ports. Destroy them with Predator strikes. “Innocent Somali fishermen” will wail to the UN. Too bad.
The Brits wiped out piracy by wiping out the pirate ports. This is not something new, or rocket science.
All it takes is a Western leader with will. We already have Predators in the region, in Yemen and Djibouti and elsewhere.