Britain sees action against Somali piracy is working

"The number of attacks is way down. Clearly the deterrence is working," Foreign Office Minister Mark Malloch-Brown told a parliamentary committee.

Foreign Office expert Chris Holtby told the committee there had been 180 pirate attacks or "approaches" in the area last year and 40 vessels had been hijacked. So far this year, there had been 22 "approaches" and three ships had been hijacked.

He said about 250 pirates had been arrested up to the beginning of March, of whom 130 were disarmed and released and 110 disarmed and turned over for prosecution. He did not say what happened to the other 10.

The European Union launched anti-piracy patrols off Somalia in December and NATO is to send ships to take part in a new counter-piracy operation later this month.

The EU force is commanded by British Vice-Admiral Philip Jones and headquartered at Northwood in England.

The U.S. Navy has stepped up action against pirates in the Gulf of Aden and Russia and China have also sent ships.

Pirates in the Gulf of Aden, which connects Europe to Asia and the Middle East via the Suez Canal, hijacked dozens of ships last year, taking tens of millions of dollars in ransom.

International concern peaked when a supertanker was captured last year by pirates, who typically use speedboats.

However, Malloch-Brown said it was too soon to declare victory because the bad weather at this time of year could be discouraging pirate attacks.

"This is bad pirating weather at the moment and before we know just how effective it (the operation) is, we need to go through a period of calmer seas to make sure that the attacks don't spike back up again," he said.

He said Britain hoped the EU operation, initially approved for one year, would be extended and that Britain would offer to continue to provide the headquarters. "Our own Navy is rather enjoying this mission," he said.

(Reporting by Adrian Croft)