10 December 2009 marks the first anniversary of EU NAVFOR Somalia - Operation Atalanta, the EU Naval Force operations in the Gulf of Aden and the Somali Basin against piracy. Hosted by Rear Admiral Peter Hudson CBE and co chaired by Didier Lenoir (CPMD Brussels) and Chris Trelawny (Head of Maritime Security Section IMO) it was a good opportunity to reflect on a successful first year of the operation. The mission of Operation Atalanta has been three fold. Firstly, the mission provides close escort protection by EU Naval Force warships to World Food Programme shipments of food from Mombasa into Somalia. To date, EU Naval Force has provided protection to the shipment of over 300,000 tonnes of food, vital to a nation often hovering on the brink of starvation and none have been hijacked.