Since you are playing an old save this probably is not a problem, but in my new GB campaign I left the pirate islands alone so I can kill more ships for XP but they keep slipping away into the trade theatres, and now my frigate squadrons on the West and East African coast, since they lack a friendly port to repair for now, are seriously getting worn down. I haven't seen a lack of action from the actual factions either; naval AI is really aggressive post patch. Heck, everything is more aggressive post-patch, even those gentlemen are going buck-wild with the duels.