In my home library is a large document written in four languages. It was carried by the captain of the schooner Fox and declared that his was an unarmed merchant ship that should not be attacked.

It is signed by Thomas Jefferson as President and James Madison as Secretary of State, and dated 1805. And you thought those days were gone. 

There are, of course, all kinds of piracy, ranging from copyright infringement to digital theft.  However, the one that stands out in our minds today, especially in light of the rescue of the American cargo ship captain from by well-armed Somali teenagers, is the maritime piracy from days of yore. The only change is modern weaponry and global positioning technology.

For more than a decade, ships at sea around the world have been facing unusual dangers from marauding bandits. Global trade depends on transportation by ship. And almost half of all trade routes go through or near the pirate-infested waters around parts of Asia. 

The growing maritime piracy problem has forced numerous nations into a pact to patrol certain waterways.

The size of the area being patrolled, however, is so massive that if all the navies of the world were dispatched they couldn’t oversee it sufficiently.

Aside from the mortal perils, such piracy is becoming a growing thorn in the side of the global economy and causing an increase in the cost of numerous products and services. 

Next week in Berlin, a special conference will discuss the economics of maritime piracy — on the law and legal peculiarities of piracy, security measures and the costs and consequences for shipping.

The success captors have had in forcing commercial vessel owners to pay ransom has encouraged an ever-growing number of seagoing thieves to engage in this practice.

Within 24 hours of the rescue of Captain Richard Phillips and subsequent warning by President Barack Obama that the United States would do more to eliminate piracy, Somali pirates attacked four other ships in the Gulf of Aden, including two major cargo carriers.

This year has seen 77 pirate attacks, with 18 ships hijacked. Two were released after ransom payments were made. The other 16 ships and their 285 crew members await results of continuing negotiations for money.

If the piracy problem near Somalia and other Southeast Asian trade routes continues to grow (and from all indications it certainly isn’t slowing down), higher insurance payments will probably result. 

If ship owners are unable to meet those rising costs or find insurance carriers willing to provide coverage, an even greater detrimental effect could occur as ships will have to travel longer distances to reach their ports to deliver goods, thereby causing prices of those products to escalate.  

Eliminating piracy, especially that emanating from the area around Somalia, will require a variety of approaches, ranging from military to political, as well as humanitarian endeavors to improve the lives of the people of that war-torn country. 

Stopping pirates who are operating in other waters around the world will also require a combination of efforts.

The degree of success achieved will play an important role in strengthening the global economy, which today as in days of yore is absolutely dependent on freedom of the seas.

Economist Ray Perryman is CEO of the Perryman Group. He also serves as distinguished professor of economic theory and method at the International Institute for Advanced Studies.