WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- Piracy off the coast of Somalia ca n't be stopped until there is some authority to bring pirates to justice , according to the commander of the U.S. Navy 's Fifth Fleet , based in Bahrain . U.S. Vice Admiral William Gortney : Need to hold pirates off Africa 's east coast accountable . Because there is no working government in Somalia and no country is willing to take captured pirates , bring them to trial and detain them , there is no deterrent for pirates to stop attacking ships , Vice Admiral William Gortney said at a Pentagon briefing Thursday . `` The problem is there 's not a way to -- until we have a mechanism [ to hold them ] accountable and try them for their actions , there 's no way to -- to finish the problem , '' Gortney said . The United States is making a deal with a country in the eastern Africa region to hold and try pirates captured by the U.S.-led Combined Task Force 151 , a new maritime anti-piracy mission started earlier this month . He said an official announcement would be made after the deal with the country is official . In the past three months , piracy attacks have averaged about 12 to 14 a month off the east coast of Africa . As of mid-January , the attack numbers are already at the average of the past three months , according to Gortney . `` That [ number ] should tell you that we 're not -- we 're not being 100 percent successful on the deterrence of the attempt . And that 's where we have to go after , '' Gortney said . The United States is expecting other nations to join the anti-piracy task force , but at the moment , the United States is the only country in the task force with just three ships off of the waters of Somalia . There are ships from some European and Asian countries patrolling the waters independently as well , primarily guarding cargo ships from their own countries . Pirates attacked nearly 100 vessels and hijacked as many as 40 in the waters off the coast of Somalia in 2008 , according to the International Maritime Bureau . See how pirate attacks peaked in 2008 » . Pirating off of Somalia has increased during the past four to five years as fishermen from Somalia realize that pirating is more lucrative than fishing . Additionally , pirates are able to get away with the crimes because of the lack of government and overall lawlessness in the country . Gortney said statistically the chances of ships being pirated off of Somalia less than one percent , but it wo n't be stopped until piracy is `` disincentivized . ''
Gortney : No working Somali government , country willing to detain , try accused pirates . U.S. currently only nation with ships dedicated to anti-pirate task force . Comment: