Excerpt
Navies are the only resource that many states have to protect the international trading system, but naval authorities must be realistic about the complexity of the criminal threats they are likely to encounter
The significance of trade, and the obvious security problems posed by maritime crime, have understandably made controlling such crime an important state goal. This task has fallen to navies, which are often the only state actor with the capacity to deal with significant maritime challenges. However, neither the essential features of maritime crime, nor the naval response to it, have been fully examined, despite the implications for state and international security.
A deeper understanding is needed of the interlinked nature of diverse maritime crimes; the tendency of crime to evolve in the face of control; and the importance of tackling IUU fishing, which lies at the heart of most types of maritime crime. Underlying all these issues is an inadequate legal framework that must be remedied for effective control to be imposed.
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