A story in another thread prompted me to do a search that led to this possibility. I did a search on a non-profit organization named 5 Gyres turned up an agency that takes a lot of private cruises on taxpayer bought yachts to take pictures of garbage. Sounded wild, so I expanded my search, and found this:
http://www.odin.tc/articles/piracy2012.htm
which definitely sounded suspicious. Further searches on maritime piracy turned up a mixed bag like this:
http://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/live-piracy-map
and this:
http://piracy-law.com/2013/02/16/piracy-declining-in-the-gulf-of-aden-rising-in-the-gulf-of-guinea/
or this:
http://www.issafrica.org/iss-today/african-coastal-piracy-in-2013-the-beginning-of-the-end-or-the-end-of-the-beginning
or try this:
https://www.cimicweb.org/cmo/medbasin/Holder/Documents/r014%20CFC%20Monthly%20Thematic%20Report%20%2826-APR-12%29.pdf
Does everybody pick up on a discrepancy in numbers here? I would expect that with something as serious as maritime piracy, facts and figures would be accurate. Does that not seem logical? This seems to insinuate that numbers are being pulled out of ........ somewhere, so as to alarm. But what would the goal be? An excuse for the navies of the world to become more active in certain areas? I don't know.
Further searching, under a different topic, turned up this:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/pollution/trash-vortex/
Sounds bad. But wait, calmer heads from more reliable sources refute this:
http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2011/jan/oceanic-%E2%80%9Cgarbage-patch%E2%80%9D-not-nearly-big-portrayed-media
http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/patch.html
yet the embellishment persists:
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/waste-and-recycling/news-north-pacific-gyre-100-million-tons-garbage-and-growing
Two points drill home on that last one. First, garbage does not belong in our oceans. Second, environmental groups seem to feel vindicated in their shameless acts of hypocrisy to further their agenda of frightening the public.
But however a person feels about either of these issues, there is an underlying fact that should cause everybody concern. Something is going on here, and whatever it is, is not quite right. It almost looks as if an image is being created to justify a stronger legal and military presence on the high seas. Am I off base here? Or can others see this as well?
http://www.odin.tc/articles/piracy2012.htm
which definitely sounded suspicious. Further searches on maritime piracy turned up a mixed bag like this:
http://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/live-piracy-map
and this:
http://piracy-law.com/2013/02/16/piracy-declining-in-the-gulf-of-aden-rising-in-the-gulf-of-guinea/
or this:
http://www.issafrica.org/iss-today/african-coastal-piracy-in-2013-the-beginning-of-the-end-or-the-end-of-the-beginning
or try this:
https://www.cimicweb.org/cmo/medbasin/Holder/Documents/r014%20CFC%20Monthly%20Thematic%20Report%20%2826-APR-12%29.pdf
Does everybody pick up on a discrepancy in numbers here? I would expect that with something as serious as maritime piracy, facts and figures would be accurate. Does that not seem logical? This seems to insinuate that numbers are being pulled out of ........ somewhere, so as to alarm. But what would the goal be? An excuse for the navies of the world to become more active in certain areas? I don't know.

Further searching, under a different topic, turned up this:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/en/campaigns/oceans/pollution/trash-vortex/
Sounds bad. But wait, calmer heads from more reliable sources refute this:
http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2011/jan/oceanic-%E2%80%9Cgarbage-patch%E2%80%9D-not-nearly-big-portrayed-media
http://marinedebris.noaa.gov/info/patch.html
yet the embellishment persists:
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/waste-and-recycling/news-north-pacific-gyre-100-million-tons-garbage-and-growing
Two points drill home on that last one. First, garbage does not belong in our oceans. Second, environmental groups seem to feel vindicated in their shameless acts of hypocrisy to further their agenda of frightening the public.
But however a person feels about either of these issues, there is an underlying fact that should cause everybody concern. Something is going on here, and whatever it is, is not quite right. It almost looks as if an image is being created to justify a stronger legal and military presence on the high seas. Am I off base here? Or can others see this as well?
