After the family paid two ransoms, Federico was released, and Guillermo moved his family to America.
Both the Australian and Philippine governments have strict policies of refusing to pay ransoms.
Pirates typically hold the ships and crews until large ransoms are paid by the shipping companies.
The ransoms being paid to the pirates are also increasing, maritime security experts say.
Making ransoms illegal would only add to the stress and uncertainty that hostage crews face.
Many governments, however, including the United States, refuse to pay ransoms or make other concessions to kidnappers.
Abductions are not uncommon in Venezuela, where criminals hold high-profile victims until their families pay hefty ransoms.
Ransoms might go up in the short term, but sooner or later they should run out of boats.
FORBES: We're Slashing Prices to Make Room for New Inventory! Say Somali Pirates
He stressed that France would not pay ransoms to get the hostages freed.
France has always denied that it pays ransoms for the release of hostages.
Howlett said there was currently no set policy for ransoms, as it was a difficult area to deal with.
Recent incidents of clergymen being kidnapped ended with their release after ransoms of thousands of dollars were paid, he said.
Pakistani community groups in Oldham say they are considering setting up a fund to pay ransoms in the event of kidnaps.
Pakistani community groups in Oldham have said they are considering setting up a fund to pay ransoms in the event of kidnaps.
He said that paying ransoms would only encourage more kidnapping and urged people to instead contact the police, saying they have freed several hostages.
The UK government has a policy of not paying ransoms and advises third parties against doing so, arguing that this would encourage future kidnappings.
But they also take pride in their counter-terrorism experience, their military suppression of armed groups and their publicly-stated reluctance to negotiate or pay ransoms.
The U.S. government doesn't pay ransoms, but it did send U.S. troops, acting on a tip from an Iraqi, to rescue Hallums after 311 days of captivity.
While a South Korean shipping company decided to pay one of the ransoms requested, others have refused to -- citing the likelihood it would encourage more attacks.
The method of paying the ransoms is changing, too, and has become one of the most complicated and dangerous sticking points in negotiations with pirates, the experts say.
Middleton offers five possible solutions to the piracy plague, including organizing shipping into a safe lane, providing a coast guard for Somalia, having a large international naval presence and refusing to pay ransoms.
CNN: Somali piracy threatens trade, boosts terrorists, analysts say
Rampant piracy off Somalia has made the country's waters the world's most dangerous shipping lane, has secured Somali bandits tens of millions of dollars in ransoms and pushed up insurance premiums for ships.
While Mend and other militant groups say they were fighting for a political cause, criminal gangs have taken advantage of the region's instability to make money from ransoms paid by oil companies, and by stealing oil.
"All the European countries who paid ransoms have denied that they paid ransoms and you know perhaps they can deny it because it's gone indirectly through various channels in the Malian government, " she told the BBC's Newshour programme.
Conversely, the ransoms mean higher insurance premiums for the rattled shipping industry, delays for customers as more ships choose the longer passage around the Cape of Good Hope, lower revenues for the Suez Canal, and for the oil markets yet another variable to work into already volatile prices.
应用推荐