The troubling rise in Somali piracy has led the United Nations to step up efforts to tackle the crime.
But for all shippers, the threat of Somali piracy has nonetheless pushed up insurance costs and forced vessels to make expensive detours.
It would not be treating Somali piracy as a strategically insignificant nuisance.
But the threat of Somali piracy is also damaging the economies of neighboring countries, particularly in the key sectors of tourism and fishing.
"There aren't enough ships on the planet to patrol the entire Indian Ocean, " she said, adding that she thought it would be more difficult to eradicate Somali piracy than to bring peace to Afghanistan.
After that there are a series of short debates, and the two which caught my eye are on the recommendations of the Francis Report into the Mid-Staffordshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and on a European Union Committee report on Somali piracy.
Donna Hopkins, co-ordinator for counter piracy and maritime security at the US state department, told the BBC the Somali piracy problem was escalating and would continue to do so for as long as the pirates were able to make large sums of money.
Somali suspects in three other French piracy cases are awaiting trial.
The EU, the US and others already train and finance the Somali security forces, as part of wider efforts to combat piracy and al-Qaeda in the Horn of Africa.
The authors of the report said the solution to ending piracy will only come with the recreation of a functional Somali state and urged the international community to focus on helping the East African county build a viable political system.
CNN: Somali pirates cost global economy '$18 billion a year'
It was being sailed by the pirates towards the Somali Puntland coast, said Kenya-based non-governmental organisation Ecoterra International, which monitors piracy.
Somali Prime Minister Nur Hassan Hussein said October 19 that NATO had a free hand to fight piracy as it saw fit.
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