Maritime security in the Indian Ocean: strategic setting and features

The document analyzes the Indian Ocean as a critical global trade and energy highway, detailing the shift from colonial hegemony to a complex environment involving new regional powers like India and China. It identifies key security threats including piracy, illegal fishing, smuggling, and asymmetrical attacks by non-state actors, while evaluating the role of international naval coalitions and regional cooperation frameworks in maintaining maritime order.

• The Indian Ocean is of immense global economic importance, handling approximately 30% of global trade and half of the world's container traffic, while containing roughly 55% of known oil reserves and 40% of gas reserves.
• Maritime security in the region is characterized by a power struggle for energy and influence, with the US maintaining a consolidated naval grip through bases in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia, while India and China expand their naval capabilities to project power.
• Piracy, particularly off the Horn of Africa and Somalia, remains a severe threat; in 2009, Somali pirates were responsible for more than half of the 406 reported international incidents of piracy and armed robbery.
• Illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing causes significant economic losses and protein shortages, especially in African countries that lack the capacity to patrol their Exclusive Economic Zones (EEZ).
• The region is vulnerable to asymmetrical threats from non-state actors and terrorist groups, as demonstrated by the 2000 attack on the USS Cole in Aden and the 2008 seaborne terror attack in Mumbai.
• Environmental security is a critical but neglected issue, with the Indian Ocean experiencing sea temperature rises faster than other oceans and Somalia serving as a dumping ground for hazardous waste from industrial countries since the early 1990s.
• Many Indian Ocean Rim (IOR) states, particularly in Africa, suffer from a 'double jeopardy' where a lack of resources to enforce maritime sovereignty allows illicit activities to flourish, which in turn prevents them from exploiting ocean resources.
• While various regional organizations exist (such as SADC, ASEAN, and the IOR-ARC), a coherent geopolitical system for the Indian Ocean is lacking, and the Indian Navy's Indian Ocean Naval Symposium (IONS) represents a potential but early-stage effort to improve cooperation.

APA

Potgieter, T. (2012). Maritime security in the Indian Ocean: strategic setting and features. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Paper236.pdf

Chicago

Potgieter, Thean. Maritime security in the Indian Ocean: strategic setting and features. Institute for Security Studies, 2012. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Paper236.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Potgieter |first1=Thean |title=Maritime security in the Indian Ocean: strategic setting and features |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=August 2012 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Paper236.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{potgieter2012maritime, author = {Potgieter, Thean}, title = {{Maritime security in the Indian Ocean: strategic setting and features}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2012}, month = aug, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/Paper236.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }