Foulness SSSI Foulness SSSI Foulness SSSI is a 10,702 hectare biological Site of Special Scientific Interest covering the shoreline between Southend-on-Sea and the Crouch estuary in Essex. It is a key site in "A Nature Conservation Review", and is part of the Essex Estuaries Special Area of Conservation. It covers two Ramsar wetland sites of international importance, 'Crouch and Roach Estuaries' and 'Foulness'. An area of 6.4 hectares is Shoeburyness Old Ranges, a Local Nature Reserve managed by the Essex Wildlife Trust. Most of the site is owned and managed by the Ministry of Defence. Natural England describes it as "extensive intertidal
Piracy off the coast of Somalia vessels which pass through that area. The rate of attacks in January and February 2009 was about 10 times higher than during the same period in 2008 and "there have been almost daily attacks in March", with 79 attacks, 21 successful, by mid-April. Most of these attacks occurred in the Gulf of Aden but subsequently the pirates increased their range and started attacking ships as far south as off the coast of Kenya in the Indian Ocean. Below are some notable pirate events which have garnered significant media coverage since 2007. On 28 May 2007, a Chinese sailor was killed