The EU's anti-piracy drive, dubbed Atalanta, was to formally kick off on Monday, increasing the military presence in the Gulf of Aden, which has in recent months become the world's most dangerous stretch of water.

The Gulf of Aden commands access to the Red Sea and the Suez Canal, a key trade route between Asia and Europe, and Atalanta will attempt to reassure shipping companies.

Pirates equipped with speedboats, assault rifles and rocket launchers, have carried out more than 100 attacks since the start of the year.

They have raked in tens of millions of dollars in ransom money after hijacking foreign vessels, from luxury yachts to the Sirius Star, a 330-metre crude carrier which is still being held.

Arguing that foreign fishing fleets have for years plundered Somali fishing resources illegally, pirates have secured strong support from the coastal communities in a country ravaged by conflict and starvation.

"The presence of European war ships will undermine the Somalis' ability to protect their natural resources from illegal fishing," said Mohamed Said, a pirate leader whose group has held the Saudi super-tanker Sirius Star for ransom since November 15.

"Many of the polluters of Somalia's waters, those who dump toxic waste, are Europeans. This force will contribute to giving them unimpeded access to our waters," he told AFP.

With five of six EU ships expected in Somali waters this month, the international naval presence in the region will be further enhanced, restricting the pirates' room for manoeuvre.

But despite the added support of NATO, the US navy and Asian powers, experts argue the number of war ships will remain insufficient to root out piracy.

According to UNOSAT, a UN-affiliated agency that anaylses satellite data, the recent increase in naval vessels has done little to deter pirates, only forcing them to concentrate their attacks in specific areas.

Out of the 80 attacks reported in the past three months alone, half of them occurred in or around the so-called corridor which merchant vessels have been encouraged to use in order to benefit from navy monitoring.

While the success rate of the pirates' attacks has dipped slightly in recent weeks, the sheer numbers of attacks continues to thwart the West's state-of-the-art naval machine.

"You would need at least 100 naval ships in the area to make a decisive impact but this is impossible," said Jean Duval, a maritime expert with French private maritime security outfit Secopex.

Duval's firm, which expects to clinch contracts with shipping companies in the coming weeks, is one of dozens of private companies hoping to cash in on the surge in piracy in Somalia's strategic waters.

While navies only can actively combat piracy and detain pirates, private firms seek to offer complementary services by escorting ships through the Gulf of Aden.

The EU and its international partners are aware of the limits to their action, admitting that piracy can only be eradicated if durable solutions are found to stabilise Somalia.

"Everything needs to be done to change Somalia from a failed to state to a country where the authorities are in a position to maintain law and order," Vice Admiral Gerard Vallin, who heads France's naval forces in the Indian Ocean, told AFP.

Navies have been powerless to free hijacked ships once they have been seized by pirates. Somali pirates are currently holding 16 ships and more than 350 crew.

Pirates gave the owner of the Sirius Star up to the end of November to pay a ransom of 25 million dollars.

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