Maritime security, an important area in defence studies, has become a matter of public concern and acquired topicality in recent times in India, thanks to the growing piracy menace. In the latest such traumatic episode, Indian sailors — 79 of them — were held captive in March by Somalian pirates, prompting Parliament to voice concern about the safety of the sailors and the escalating piracy problem in general. For its part, the Government of India is reported to be considering a special legislation to effectively tackle the menace; sea piracy is now dealt with under the provisions of the Admiralty Law and the Indian Penal Code.
Currently, ship safety and security are handled by the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) under the International Ship and Port Facility Security Code, which itself is an amendment to the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) of 1974/78 and came into force in 2004. The present system, however, does not provide a comprehensive answer to the perils encountered especially in the open sea. Focussed areas have been restricted to Flag and Port State controls. Piracy itself is nothing new; the earliest reference to recorded piracy in the Arabian Sea is found in the Periplus of the Erythraen Sea (Paragraph 53). At the international level, Sections 101 to 107 of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) that relate to sea piracy are required to be adopted and enacted by each country as its domestic law. The proposed law will declare piracy as a separate crime, with appropriate penal provisions. In this book, Prabhakaran Paleri, who has served as Director-General of the Coast Guard and held various positions in the Navy and the Customs Marine Organisation, highlights “the activities associated with the dark side of human vicissitude that are termed ‘unlawful' and their impact on the maritime terrain.”
Unlawful
Paleri discusses, in the introduction, what is “unlawful” with reference to the sea and ships and proceeds to analyse the subject in all its varied aspects in the 10 chapters that follow. Piracy, smuggling and trafficking, poaching, breaching the environmental stasis, maritime terror, spying and espionage, and other marine crimes are explained in detail, supported by real life examples. He does not fail to point out how terrorism differs from the various sea crimes. It is noteworthy that this has been a subject of study even when East Indiamen sailed into the port of Madras, as reported in the “Vestiges of Old Madras” by Col. Love.
In the chapter “Breaching the environmental stasis,” the author, while discussing the ocean currents that control the marine environment, describes how mindless exchange of water between one area and another (which happens while pumping out ballast water) poses a danger to the food chain and the sea organism. Quite alive to this danger, the International Maritime Organisation has formulated a set of regulations for ballast water treatment through its GloBallast . In fact, the IMO wants the ballast water exchange to be phased out as an acceptable method of complying with the convention during the period 2009-16, depending on different parameters related to the ship. Later, ‘ballast water treatment' would be the only available option. It is, therefore, timely that the author has dealt with this as one of the important dimensions of maritime security. The Mediterranean sea, once the cradle of civilisation, is turning into an underwater desert, as he points out.
Paleri strikes a note of warning about maritime terrorism, an emerging threat to civilian and naval vessels. Analysing the problem in depth, he says the problem may not be serious at the moment but there is a real danger of it assuming formidable dimensions — he has named the chapter, the ‘Chilling Wait'!
On spying
The chapter on spying is replete with case studies of a rare order — for instance, the Japanese experience with a Korean vessel that talks about the methods adopted in espionage. Again, the episode of USNS ‘Impeccable' in South China Sea in March 2009 reads like a page from a crime thriller!
The book, which has information-rich appendices, will be a valuable addition to the libraries of maritime universities and institutions. What is remarkable about the work is that it will be useful at once to a lay, casual reader and a professional alike. Coming as it does from one with impressive credentials, the book should serve as an authoritative source for the practising marine community. At the same time, the style of presentation is such that a non-mariner can easily comprehend and appreciate the issues discussed.
