By Laudia Sawer
Tema, April 07, GNA – The Centre for International Maritime Affairs, Ghana (CIMAG), has underscored the need for effective measures to combat piracy in the Gulf of Guinea, following the recent piracy attack on the Ghanaian-flagged fishing trawler, MENGXIN 1.
Mr Albert Derrick Fiatui, the Executive Director of CIMAG, in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA), said the event, which occurred 16 nautical miles south of Accra in the Gulf of Guinea, highlighted the persistent piracy challenges in the area and emphasised the need for coordinated action under international law and regional frameworks.
Mr Fiatui said there was the need to blend practical solutions with a recognition of its human toll and a challenge for decisive action by putting in place satellite communications, mandated by the International Maritime Organisation’s Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) Convention, to enable vessels to send instant distress alerts and address the communication gaps exposed in the incident.
He added that drones, as trialled in Nigeria’s 2022 Deep Blue Project, provide early detection of threats, enhancing maritime surveillance.
He also called for crew training in the use of flares and sound cannons, a method proven to reduce hijackings during Somalia’s piracy decline in the early 2010s, equipping fishers with tools to deter attackers.
Mr Fiatui said onshore job creation, modelled on Senegal’s 2021 initiative that employed thousands in fish processing, reduces the economic incentives driving pirate recruitment, adding that floating safe zones, equipped with cameras and SOS beacons, are also a concept proposed by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) in 2023 to offer vessels a secure refuge in high-risk areas.
“These strategies integrate enforcement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) with innovative approaches to bolster security.
“The human dimension of this crisis remains central. The MENGXIN 1 crew, some hiding in a safe room during the three-hour ordeal and others taken as hostages, represent more than data points; they are individuals whose lives and families, particularly in China, are profoundly affected,” he said.
The Executive Director of CIMAG further noted that each incident alters livelihoods and communities, both on deck and ashore, highlighting the urgency of protective measures.
He said the event was not an isolated case but a critical signal of a broader challenge and under UNCLOS, the Yaoundé Code of Conduct, and the pressing need for resolution, responsibility falls to Ghana, ECOWAS, China, and the international community to act.
However, the question that remained was who to step forward to address the persistent piracy threat and secure the Gulf of Guinea.
GNA
LS/CAA