Authored by Allan Stein via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Former harbormaster of Oakland Brock De Lappe doesn't like to use the word "piracy" to describe waterborne crime on the Oakland/Alameda Estuary.

"People have this romantic view of pirates—Johnny Depp; Pirates of the Caribbean—argh! Avast ye, matey!" said Mr. De Lappe, a marine consultant who was also Alameda's harbormaster before his retirement.

The reality is anything but romantic. The so-called pirates are nothing like the "Real Oakland Raiders," as one newspaper headline put it.

"These people are just common criminals," living on illegal "anchor-off" vessels committing robberies within the San Francisco Bay, he said. Anchor-offs, or anchor outs, are boats that are illegally anchored without a permit.