Handout photo of the French Command ship La Somme, taken at high seas on February 15, 2007.(EPA)

The total number of piracy attacks reported to the ICC International Maritime Bureau (IMB) this year has reached 294, according to IMB’s Piracy Reporting Center (PRC).

Of these, 34 resulted in successful hijackings of vessels. A total of 559 hostages have been taken in these hijackings.

IMB said that the lion’s share of hijackings have taken place off the coast of Somalia, either in the Gulf of Aden or off the country’s east coast in the Indian Ocean.

Ninety-seven of the 294 attacks have taken place in the Gulf of Aden, whilst a further 47 have taken place off the rest of the coast of Somalia.

Four attacks have taken place off the coast of Oman, although they can also be attributed to suspected Somali pirates. Somali pirates accounted for 32 hijackings with 532 crew taken hostage. Four crew were killed.

Somali pirates are currently holding four ships and 82 crew off the east coast of Somalia.

IMB Director Pottengal Mukundan said: “The fact that last year’s figures have been surpassed three quarters of the way through 2009 shows that pirates, particularly off Somalia, still pose a significant threat to shipping."

"Since 16 September there have been six attacks off Somalia although none succeeded in a hijacking. The navies continue to play a key role in this area in preventing attacks.”

The South China Sea and Malaysian waters remain a cause for concern, with nine reported attacks in the former and 14 in the latter.

Elsewhere in this region, the number of reported attacks off Indonesia currently totals seven, compared to 28 in 2008. This reduction can partly be attributed to increased patrols of the country’s coastline, said IMB.