Pirate Catch and Release

Revolving door justice takes to the high seas as members of the NATO anti-piracy fleet engage in protecting shipping by catching pirate ships after they've attacked shipping and then release them after disarming the pirates. NATO appears to have thwarted another pirate attack, and fired on a pirate skiff that had seven of these thugs on board before finally apprehending them after a seven-hour chase. Then, the Canadian contingent that captured them, released them:

Seven pirates attempted to attack the Norwegian-flagged MV Front Ardenne late Saturday but fled after crew took evasive maneuvers and alerted warships in the area, said Portuguese Lt. Cmdr. Alexandre Santos Fernandes, aboard a warship in the Gulf of Aden, and Cmdr. Chris Davies, of NATO's maritime headquarters in England.

"How the attack was thwarted is unclear, it appears to have been the actions of the tanker," Davies said. Fernandes said no shots were fired at the tanker.

Davies said the pirates sailed into the path of the Canadian warship Winnipeg, which was escorting a World Food Program delivery ship through the Gulf of Aden. The American ship USS Halyburton was also in the area and joined the chase.

"There was a lengthy pursuit, over seven hours," Davies said.

The pirates hurled weapons into the dark seas as the Canadian and U.S. warships closed in. The ships are part of NATO's anti-piracy mission.

"The skiff abandoned the scene and tried to escape to Somali territory," Fernandes said. "It was heading toward Bossaso we managed to track them ... warning shots have been made after several attempts to stop the vessel."

Both ships deployed helicopters, and naval officers hailed the pirates over loudspeakers and finally fired warning shots to stop them, Fernandes said, but not before the pirates had dumped most of their weapons overboard. NATO forces boarded the skiff, where they found a rocket-propelled grenade, and interrogated, disarmed and released the pirates.

The pirates cannot be prosecuted under Canadian law because they did not attack Canadian citizens or interests and the crime was not committed on Canadian territory.

"When a ship is part of NATO, the detention of person is a matter for the national authorities," Fernandes said. "It stops being a NATO issue and starts being a national issue."

This is absolutely ridiculous. The pirates know that they will not suffer any consequences from attempting to capture and hold for ransom crews and shipping cargo unless the world puts its collective foot down and stamps out the piracy on the high seas and the pirate safe havens onshore.

Catch and release is an astoundingly bad idea that reinforces the notion that the world is powerless to deal with the piracy threat.

The problems are going to get a whole lot worse before the world finally responds in the kind of force needed to end the piracy on the high seas.