Piracy in the 21st century

With the number of pirate hijackings on the rise from year to year not many people seem to take the growing threat seriously. So far there have been more than 50 hijackings in 2011. According to the International Maritime Bureau as of February 15th pirates were holding 33 ships and 712 hostages. Countries have naval ships out patrolling the waters looking for pirates but the oceans are just to large to be able to find them. With the recent hijacking and murder of 4 Americans aboard their ship I feel that changes should be made to prevent something like this from happening again. I believe that cargo ships which seem to be a favorite for these pirates should be allowed to have a cache of guns onboard so that they could fend off the attack from the pirates. The ships that are hijacked are usually a lot taller than the ships the pirates use. This would mean that the pirates have to climb up the side putting them at a very vulnerable position. A ship could be easily defended by a few people with guns on higher ground. As for smaller vessels I feel that the United Nations should create some sort of organization whose sole purpose would be finding and eliminating these pirates in what ever way necessary. Each ship that passes through the waters where the pirates hijack ships, off the coast of Somalia, should have some sort of beacon that the crew activates to alert the organization that pirates are attacking their ship. This could help save lives of countless people in future hijackings.