The JURIST reports a Seychelles court has sentenced a group of Somalis to 10 years in prison for piracy.

The 11 men were apprehended in the Indian Ocean following the attempted hijacking of a Seychelles coastguard ship in December. The trial began in March, after Seychelles amended its criminal code to allow universal jurisdiction in piracy cases. Eight of the men were convicted of piracy, and three others of aiding and abetting piracy.

This is the first conviction for the UN-supported court for prosecution of pirates captured by the European Union Naval Force Somalia (EU NAVFOR).

MSNBC gives us a look at a scary wildlife incident in South African waters. Neither the whale nor the sailors were injured.

The boat was severely damaged but did not sink.

Two incredible stories. First the Telegraph reports a pet dog survived four months lost at sea off Australia. It was washed overboard in bad weather near Queensland.

To stay alive, the hardy dog swam five nautical miles through stormy seas to St Bees Island.

There, she managed to fend off starvation by hunting wild baby goats until she was captured last week by rangers who patrol the largely uninhabited island. They believed they had caught a wild dog until they were contacted by Mrs Griffith, who had heard that a cattle dog had been spotted in the region.

Second, the Telegraph also reports that the US teenager who was sitting on a dis-masted but safe vessel full of supplies in the Indian Ocean could cost the Australian government $300,000 for her rescue. Her parents say they can not afford to pay.

“What price would you put on a child’s life?” Maryanne Sunderland said yesterday when asked about compensation.

“The full cost of chartering an Airbus would be so high, you’d think they (Australian rescue authorities) would have to work with the US government for that.

“We’re not wealthy people.”

Sailing experts have criticized the Sunderland family for sending their 16 year old daughter into the south seas during winter, the roughest time of the year. Their defense has been that they, and she, knew exactly what they were doing. Now they seem to be backing away from the prior knowledge argument as the cost of her survival has been raised.

A curious-looking sea lion approached a boat I was sailing the other day. I had a good laugh with the crew on board about how it must represent the latest Naval surveillance technology…”look out, a seagull-drone also is watching”. It turns out the joke was really on us, according to a report this week by CNET.

At Pier 48 in San Francisco, the city’s police and fire departments, along with its Emergency Operations Center, conducted a drill demonstrating the ability of dolphins and California Sea Lions to help protect coastal areas from maritime attacks.

No word on seagulls but they fit nicely into this picture. Could an octopus could be trained? They would be able to operate without a mechanical clasp like the one required for a sea lion:

I have to wonder how mammals are evaluated for this job. It is not very clear from the story.

Using highly trained dolphins and sea lions selected for their quickness, intelligence, detection capability, and mobility, officials demonstrated the unique ability of these animals to identify and neutralize threats in cooperation with human teammates.

Selected? Obviously they do not enlist. Does this rule out monkeys? What about chimpanzees, pigs or birds? Are dogs the only other animal that has been drafted for US military training? How does the military account for the cost and time of training a dolphin or sea lion? An artificial shark robot seems like a more humane approach, maybe more cost-effective, to this kind of underwater explosive detection and removal operation.

Remember Roboshark2? I have not heard anything since the big splash in 2003.