Carl,

Piracy is a problem the Navy can only mitigate, not solve. The ocean is a big place, there are lots of targets for the pirates, naval vessels are few and expensive, and the pirate ports are currently sanctuaries. Patrolling and attempting to catch pirates at sea will hinder pirate activity, but it's ultimately a chronic treatment for a what is a chronic condition. Unless you're willing to change the conditions on the ground that lead to piracy, you're left with treating the disease.

A permanent solution is neither easy nor cheap given Somalia's realities. The question then becomes, what additional measures are you willing to take in order to prevent the pirates from taking ships? I'm simply suggesting that convoys, exclusion zones or more radical measures (ie. attacking pirate bases) are either not worth the cost or are unlikely to succeed. We can probably add more ships to patrol and perhaps prevent a few more incidents per year, but is that really worth what is, in reality, a small problem?