Luxury yacht owners have been warned of a surge in piracy in the southern Caribbean, as Venezuela's economic collapse spurs its penniless fishermen into banditry.

According to a new global survey of global maritime security, 71 piracy incidents took place in the region last year, compared to just 21 the year before.

Researchers for the charity Oceans Beyond Piracy, which compiled the survey, said that a majority of the attacks had been off the coast of Venezuela, which is currently engulfed by political turmoil and hyperinflation.

The local fishing industry, which used to operate in the Caribbean waters off Venezuela's northern coast, has been decimated in recent years, causing many to turn to drug trafficking and - increasingly - sea robbery.

The trend has direct echoes of the Somali piracy crisis, where impoverished fishermen likewise turned to hijacking passing vessels after the country's collapse into lawlessness in the 1990s.

"The incidents we've logged have been concentrated mainly in Venezuelan waters," the report’s lead author, Maisie Pigeon, told the The Telegraph. "As in Somalia, insecure areas on land can breed wider insecurity at sea."