Analysis of maritime piracy in eastern Africa between 2000 and 2010 and its impact on seafarer occupational risk perception

In this study, seafarers were the research target group and Seafarer Occupational Risk Perception was the research topic. This study was conducted in response to four concerns arising from the increase in frequency of pirate attacks on ships along the coast of East African between the year 2000 and 20 I 0. First and foremost being the lack of empirical research on maritime piracy in East Africa. Secondly, that seafarers featured in maritime piracy incident reports as mere statistics of those attacked, captured and released by pirates. Thirdly, that the views of ship crew were not included in piracy reports; Fourthly, that studies on seafarer perception of pirate attacks as an occupational risk remained an uncharted research territory despite the fact that the maritime work environment has long been regarded as risky, and the crew were the targeted victims of the kidnap-for-ransom mode of piracy in East Africa. This study was initiated in order to provide empirical evidence to try to explain the variations in the views of seafarers about maritime piracy as a risk factor, in relation to other occupational risks. By adopting a phenomenological approach, this study had as its focus, my interviewees’ perspectives about risk in general, and their varied perception about the threat posed by pirate attacks in East Africa. During the fieldwork stage of the project in the year 2011, interviews of a diverse sample of forty-four seafarers were carried out over a period of six months at a busy port in the United Kingdom. The interviewees included forty-three males and one female. An interview guide containing semi-structured questions and two vignettes was used as an aide de memoire to facilitate focused data collection interaction with the interviewees. Data collected was subjected to both quantitative and qualitative analysis. From the research findings, a number of conclusions emerged with both empirical, methodological, policy implications