Taking a look at the areas where attacks have occurred there would appear to be some misconception about how these pirates operate. Immediately after the attack on the Maersk Alabama another US aid ship was attacked unsuccessfully, and three other vessels were attacked successfully one bulk carrier and two Egyptian fishing vessels. Of those three vessels taken the Bulk Carrier will be ransomed and the fishing vessels will become replacement "mother-ships". No better disguise on the worlds oceans than a fishing vessel. While nearly all other vessels are in obvious transit from point A to point B, fishing vessels can loiter for extended periods in an area without arousing suspicion, the pirate "mother-ship" can hide amongst the fishing "fleet" unnoticed. Then as fuel and provisions run out the pirates take over another "mother-ship" from amongst its neighbours.

The only hostages onboard the "mother-ship" will be the crew of that vessel, the skiffs having successfully attacked and taken over their target vessel need the crew of that target vessel onboard to operate the ship and keep it running. There have been no instances of a ship being ransomed separately from its crew, so the crews are not on the "mother-ships".

Q-Ships were never really all that effective; your best bet would be to send one down there that would tempt the pirates to take it as a "mother-ship". However it has no deterrent value and relies purely on luck, you can hardly cruise around with a big neon sign with an arrow flashing "attack me" on it.

Bubblyrat's idea is a good one with regard to aerial surveillance coupled with a rapid strike capability. This capability could be provided by UAV's. The convoy idea works only in one direction as you have a natural assembly point at the eastern end of the Suez Canal. After they have passed the Horn of Africa the whole thing falls apart as the vessels disperse – take a look at the incident plots. Convoys were effective because all the vessels in the convoy were sailing from one point of departure to a common destination, that is not the case here for east bound traffic.

To eradicate the problem you must hit their bases onshore.