High-Tech on the High Seas

Dec. 3, 2008— -- Cannons and cutlasses might have kept the pirates of yesteryear at bay.

But not so for modern-day pirates, who troll the seas with GPS systems, satellite phones and rocket-propelled grenades.

As piracy off the coast of Somalia escalates to unprecedented levels, ships are turning to a growing arsenal of high-tech, nonlethal weapons to protect themselves.

Even the sly Jack Sparrow of the "Pirates of the Caribbean" franchise would have a tough time contending with the earsplitting sirens, pain rays and radiation systems ships are starting to deploy.

The number of attacks in the seas off East Africa has doubled in the past year, according to the International Maritime Organization, the London-based United Nations organization charged with improving maritime safety. As of the end of November, the group had received reports of 120 attacks, compared with 60 in 2007.

Maritime experts say that not only have the number of attacks increased, but the modus operandi of the criminals has advanced as well.

But despite widespread recognition that ships are increasingly vulnerable to pirates who attack ships with grenades and automatic weapons, vessels continue to hit the high seas without equally powerful defenses.

"Oil tankers, chemical tankers -- owners and skippers, insurers and legal guys -- no one wants lethal weaponry onboard," said David Johnson, managing director of the London-based MAD International, a distributor of magnetic acoustic devices, or MADs.

International guidelines strongly discourage ships from carrying or using firearms at sea. Deadly weapons could both intensify an already dangerous situation and become additional targets for attackers, a spokesman for the International Maritime Organization said.

Additionally, in some jurisdictions, he said, killing a national may have unforeseen consequences, even for a person who believes he or she has acted in self-defense. Other experts warn that firearms aboard a ship carrying petroleum could damage oil tanks and result in an environmental catastrophe, such as oil spills and leaks.

Litigation and insurance issues also factor into the decision to leave ships unarmed.

"There's no option but to use the best [non-lethal] equipment out there," Johnson told ABCNews.com.