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Piracy off the coast of Somalia has burgeoned over the past several years to the extent that it is propping up the poor east African nation's economy.

Between 160 and 170 merchant ships, on average, have been hijacked in the Gulf of Aden every year since 2005, their crews held for ransom of up to $5 million.

An international counter-piracy conference in Perth last week (initiated and attended by the Minister for Defence, Stephen Smith) looked at policies that could be employed to put a stop to the crimes. Professor Sarah Percy from UWA 's School of Political Science and International Relations was the only academic to address the delegates.

Her research on mercenaries and privatisation of security, which began with her doctorate at Oxford University, has led to her work on piracy which she says would now be almost impossible to wipe out in Somalia as it is so entrenched in the country's culture.

"Their business is hijack and ransom," Professor Percy said. "They don't have the infrastructure to move the cargo in the ships they seize, so they make money by holding the crews hostage. Their business plan is well-organised. We believe there are about 5,000 pirates in Somalia and they sub-contract other people to negotiate the ransom claims, house the crews, feed them, collect the ransom then return the crews to their ships - all relying on corrupt infrastructure." She spoke to the conference about why control measures were not working.

"Each of the pirates would probably make between $10,000 and $15,000 profit per ship they seize. When you consider the average income in Somalia is $290 a year and the average life expectancy in a country riddled with ongoing violence is 49, you can understand why so many young men will willingly take the risk."

Professor Percy is looking at how the control efforts could actually be making things worse.

Professor Percy said a conglomerate of international naval teams had established the Internationally Recognised Transit Corridor (IRT C) through the Gulf of Aden to the Suez Canal. The route is one of the busiest in the world, chiefly transporting oil from the Middle East to Europe and is close to the Somali coastline.

"The IRT C operates a modified convoy system to protect ships through the corridor. The pirates worked out this was happening and expanded their operations beyond the protected corridor, into the wider Indian Ocean.

"As any criminologist will tell you, smart criminals will respond to control efforts and get better at their ‘job'. They are now operating as far south as Madagascar and as far east as the Maldives.

"Some of the more ‘dodgy' shipping companies (about 25 per cent that use the route) don't bother using the corridor and take their chances of being attacked. The risk is just two per cent, so insurance companies still insure ships in the Gulf and the premiums are not exorbitant. These are companies which don't care much what happens to their crews."

There are currently 216 hostages in Somalia, waiting for their ship's insurance companies to pay their ransom.

"Some of the ships that regularly use the route put barbed wire around their decks to prevent the pirates boarding. Others use water cannon to repel the pirates and to make their ships very wet and slippery, and difficult to board."

The pirate boats can get close to ships because it is impossible to tell whether they are pirates or fishermen. "They say their activities began by defending their fishing grounds against unauthorised boats. Then they began to extort illegal licensing fees from these fishermen and the piracy progressed from there." Professor Percy pointed out to the conference that Somali piracy was a land-based problem which the international community was trying to solve at sea.

"Why do we have navies doing our law enforcement?" she asked.

Published in UWA News , 23 July 2012