The most dramatic is off the Horn of Africa where the number of attacks on merchant shipping have doubled in a year.

Piracy has plagued merchant shipping off the Horn of Africa to the east and the Gulf of Guinea in the West.

The worst period was between 2007 and 2012 when powerful navies stepped in to protest their commercial vessels.

With combinations like the British and Russian navies patrolling shoulder to shoulder, piracy subsided.

But according to last figures it’s once again on the rise.

According to Oceans Beyond Piracy there were 54 attacks off the Horn of Africa in its latest reporting period.

This is twice the number reported in the previous year.

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This is 50% more than the number who took on the often deadly crossing in unseaworthy boats in the same period last year.

As European leaders met in Malta last Friday to talk about how to stop the flow of migrants across the Mediterranean, more than 1 300 of these desperate people were  rescued from the sea.

They were aboard 13 vessels saved by the Italian coastguard and the Italian and British navies.

It brought to 2 600 the number rescued in three days last week.

The EU leaders agreed to pay Libya, the migrants’ major launching point, to improve coastguard services and upgrade camps accommodating those who have reached there from various African troublespots.

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