Their are alot of issues with this issue.
First really the only fix for the problem is to let the boats arm themselves…however this is the one thing that few countries and most of all the UN will refuse to do.
The UN has passed a number of rules and regs and having armed crews/mercs on board is a huge issue with them. Plus the legal issues of doing battle in coastal waters means that 3rd world governments could imprison and impound boats defending themselves from pirates. The 3rd world would have get legal fun taking over ships.
The argument of the “fly-by-shipping” is mostly BS… pirates will get around to attacking other targets once the easy stuff dries up… and even better since by that time they will have made alot of money and will be much better armed and trained to fight defended ships.
As for escort… not enough navy ships in the world to escort even 10% of the worlds shipping.
The world government idea(UN), lack of tolerance by nations to arms and the simple reality of them still being needed on a day to day basis means that ship crews will suffer…
