So today as the rangers came down to the pass to wish us farewell, and found their atoll invaded by three Phillipino fishing boats with 25 or 30 men on each, Max put his wife Matty aboard Endless Summer and asked us to stand by while he and another ranger went to politely ask the boats to leave.

It took half an hour for them to reach the first boat, and then an hour to reach the second and get back to Endless Summer. The boats were willing to leave, but took their sweet time. As they slowly moved toward the pass out of the atoll their little launches buzzed around continuing to fish all the way out.

When Max and David returned to Endless Summer he indicated that the fishermen seemed to be more concerned with our presence than the rangers. It seems that the last two times that fishing boats had been caught by the Palauan patrol boat, a cruising boat had happened to be at Helen Reef. So the association was made.

It was approaching two in the afternoon when the last boat finally meandered past Endless Summer and out of the reef pass. The rangers had departed back to their island to use the radio to call the main office 300 miles north on the main island of Palau. If the fishing boats were still there in the morning, they were told, the patrol boat would come. The patrol boat is a large, (100 foot) cutter provided by the Australian government to patrol Palauan waters for illegal fishing. It can make the 300 mile trip to Helen in about 10 hours. If the fishing boats were to be caught in Palauan waters, they would be arrested and towed back to Palau. Unfortunately because of corrupt individuals in Palau’s government who receive a financial benefit from the illegal fishing, the boats would most likely be sold back to the original owners at a steep discount. In other countries like Australia for example, the boats would be burned and the crew deported. If possible the companies involved would face steep fines.

So with all of this in mind I was furious to see that no sooner had the mother ships departed the atoll and headed south, that they had re-deployed their fleet. The little skiffs had just come back in across the reef at the south end. So with a little concern that the fisherman were armed, but wishing I could do something to stop the destruction of the atoll, I aimed Endless Summer at the ragtag fleet and piled on as much sail as I could. I was delighted, and relieved to hear the apologetic tone of the fisherman, and so tried to sound as much like the commander of a U.S. aircraft carrier as I could and ordered the fisherman to withdraw.


And so it goes the world over. Wildlife reserves, no-take zones, conservation areas of all kinds are pilfered because of lack of enforcement. Of course there are many other complex elements to the problem. The fisherman on those boats are “just trying to feed their families.” The consumers continue to demand shark fin soup, and other highly endangered species like blue fin tuna, (ahi) on their menus.

We should know the results of all of this in about 50 years. Either we will recognize the connection between the way we live and the effect it has on our environment, or the oceans will collapse and humans will face mass starvation. Not everyone will die, but most people probably will.