The good news is that the number of pirate attacks on the high seas was slightly lower in 2011 than in 2010. The bad news is that they’re are still a ton of them occurring around Africa. The 439 attacks recorded last year were just 6 fewer than the amount in 2010, according to the latest report from the International Chamber of Commerce’s International Maritime Bureau (IMB).

And this isn’t a result that is just naturally trending (slightly) downward, says the IMB. The agency claims that the numbers would have been higher if naval patrols near the the coast of Somali, the global hotbed of pirate attacks.

In the last quarter of 2011 alone, pre-emptive strikes by international navies disrupted at least 20 Pirate Action Groups (PAGs) before they could become a threat to commercial fleets. The last quarter of 2010 saw 90 incidents and 19 vessels hijacked; in 2011, those numbers fell to 31 and four, respectively.

“These pre-emptive naval strikes, the hardening of vessels in line with the Best Management Practices and the deterrent effect of Privately Contracted Armed Security Personnel, have all contributed to this decrease,” said Captain Pottengal Mukundan, Director of the IMB Piracy Reporting Centre (IMB PRC), which has been monitoring piracy worldwide since 1991. “The role of the navies is critical to the anti-piracy efforts in this area.”

There are more positive findings.

“Only” 802 crewmembers were taken hostage in 2011, down from more than 1,000 in both of the past two years and a high of 1,174 in 2010. And only 10 crewmembers were taken hostage/kidnapped, which was down from the 27 who suffered that fate last year and way below the combined 105 taken hostage in 2007 and 2008.

Here is a chart showing the attacks by the type of violence the criminals used on the crew in recent years.

As I noted in Risk Management magazine in November, the positive naval efforts to deter pirates around Somali has has led to somewhat of a whack-a-mole situation. As Somali pirates have been curtailed, a new threat has emerged in the Gulf of Guinea off Benin on the other side of Africa.

That is one of many reasons that these mildly positive numbers shouldn’t be celebrated. Piracy remains a major challenge, and it has taken a significant naval presence just to essentially stop the figures from increasing. The real goal, of course, is to start creating a real downward trend — not just a possible statistical blip of 6 fewer attacks.

Lastly, here are two graphs showing where the 439 recorded attacks in 2011 occurred and one that shows what types of ships are being attacked.

Pirate Attacks in 2011 by Location

Pirate Attacks in 2011 by Vessel Type