234 Revista del Instituto Español de Estudios Estratégicos Núm. 1 / 2013 Of the 66 hijacks occurring in the Indian Ocean, help was sent in 22 cases and it was possible to liberate the vessel in 9 cases. The duration of the attacks in region is longer than the average time. 52% of the attacks lasted for at least an hour –as compared to 33% for the average; 24% of the attacks were prolonged for two hours or more, when the average is 16%. We can deduce from these data that the pirates in the Indian Ocean have more time to prolong their attacks. Probably, this is due to the possibility of the ship under attack receiving help is lower. 3.2.5. The Seychelles The Seychelles archipelago has suffered from the presence of pirates since 2008. 63% of the attacks were concentrated during the course of 2009. This is most likely due to the increase in the military presence in the Gulf of Aden, which meant that pirate activity moved southwards. The lower number of the attacks occurring in the Seychelles since 2010 is chiefly due to the pirate activity transferring eastwards, closer to India and the Maldives. The influence of the monsoons in the Seychelles limits the possibility of pirate attacks. From December to February and from June to August: only 6% of attacks are reported in those critical months. A higher incidence of the attacks is recorded at both the start of the morning, from 5 to 8 o’clock, and in the afternoon, from 2 to 5 pm. The first night-time incident in the Seychelles took place on April 6, 2009, at 3 in the morning (local time), as a result of which the Win Far 161 Taiwanese fishing boat was hijacked, and this was used as a mother ship later on. Attacks on fishing boats represent 22% of the total, which is very much higher than the average, (7%). This can be explained by the fact that fishing and its associated activities constitute around 15% of the formal employment of the archipelago5. No attacks in the Seychelles region that were launched from four or more boats have been reported, a trend similar to that recorded in the Indian Ocean region. Outside help was requested in 79% of the attacks, a figure similar to the average one. Although the help received in the Seychelles is less than the average figure, it was clearly above this in 2011: 33% as compared to an average of 19%. In the Seychelles, 59% of the vessels attacked suffered damage as a result of shooting, well above the average (27%). In the same way as happens in the Indian Ocean region, the degree of violence used in the Seychelles is higher than average, and so is the level of material damage caused. As regards personal injury, one incident was reported in 2011 in which one seaman and two pirates were injured and another pirate died as a consequence of a rescue operation. 17 ships were hijacked in the Seychelles between 2008 and 2011. 33% of the total of the hijacking occurred at night, and a further 50% in the in the early hours of the day, which represents a significant variation as contrasted with the usual pattern of Somali attacks. 5 SEYCHELLES FISHING AUTHORITY. “Annual Report”. Mahe; 2006, p. 4.
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