Regardless of the fact that pirate activity off the coasts of Somalia and in the Indian Ocean has been close to non-existent for a long time now, shipowners and security companies have maintained a certain degree of concern that the pirates' criminal activities could be rekindled. But according to general Jean Francois Hogard, commander of the French naval forces in the southern part of the Indian Ocean for the past three years, pirates in the waters off Somalia no longer pose a threat to commercial ships.