Somali pirates continued to increase their activity in 2010. They successfully hijacked 49 ships in 2010 (compared to 45 in 2009) and were holding 26 ships off the coast of Somalia as of Jan. 24. They carried out more attacks across a larger geographic area in 2010, managed to overcome limitations on their activity by periods of bad weather, and increased their capacity for holding hijacked ships. These trends point to increased sophistication and capability on the part of Somali pirates. Several countermeasures to piracy emerged in 2010 as well, but it remains to be seen if the pirates will develop counter-countermeasures. In any case, the countermeasures have not done much to cause a decline in overall pirate activity, something that is not likely until serious land-based efforts are undertaken to deny pirates safe-havens.