Piracy would stop very quickly. The problem with that thought is, that no government (European and USA etc.) has the guts to enforce this. I listened to a news report this evening, which indicated that a lot of these so called pirates are being treated under the "catch and release" program because it is the most cost efficient way (!!!!!!!!!!) to deal with them. The report also stated they are sinking support crafts and weaponry. However, how much does it cost to buy another AK47? In other words, the guys they release are back at work pretty much overnight. So the only thing that would work and have an impact is to blow them out of the water. There was a very detailed and interesting article in a newspaper I read the other day "so you want to be a pirate" and it detailed how the Somali system works and who gets how much of the booty. A very interesting report. A small investment of a few thousands of Dollars is apt to generate a huge profit. If you are concerned about your 401K.... Think about it... HA HA...It sounded like a very well detailed business plan to me. In other words, there are people who finance this sort of thing and who make really big bucks, when ransom is being collected, which happens in almost all of the cases, once a vessel and crew is detained. Considering, that the so called pirates may be getting paid thousands of Dollars for every successful ransom demand, they make more money than they could ever expect to make in their lifetime (in Somalia). So, why stop at a good thing? The risk appears to be extremely low and we are at fault of making it possible.