Text B: Information from a website called World Atlas

Until recently, piracy has been relatively unheard of in news media. The practice, however, has gained international attention in recent years (especially the Somali piracy activities off of the coast of Africa). In response, an international coalition has been formed to fend off pirates along the Somali coast. The coalition has enjoyed high levels of success, and piracy there has been significantly reduced. Nevertheless, the practice has since spread to other major sea routes around the world, from South East Asia and the Mediterranean, to West Africa and Central America. Such piracy poses real threats to maritime travel, and policing massive sections of open ocean has proven quite difficult. Policing the high seas requires a considerable input of resources, both monetarily and in terms of equipment.

Modern pirates tend to attack cargo ships and fishing vessels, which have supplies that can be sold easily on the black market, and therefore rarely direct their attention towards cruise ships. Smaller pirate gangs, who do not have the resources to seize the cargo being transported, will instead often board a ship to steal substantial amounts of the cash ships carry for paying their crew, and a recent trend has been the kidnappings of crew members to be exchanged for ransom money