Arriving at an atoll farther east, I brought my empty water bottles ashore and asked a local at the quay if he knew where I could fill them…He pointed me to the town hall building across the street where there was a tank with rainwater.
“And do you know which fish are safe to eat here?” I asked.
“None.” He replied. “Don’t eat any fish close to the village.”
“Really?”
“Yes. About 3 years ago, a cargo ship offloaded 50 sacs of fertilizer here. They sat on the quay in the rain for a week before the shop owner came to pick them up. Ever since then, little by little, all the fish here have ciguatera.”
“Wow,” I said. “What do people here do for fish?”
“It’s tough. We either have to buy fish from fishermen on the other atolls who come here, or go fishing on the very south end of our atoll, almost 35 miles away…”
So apparently, the fertilizer leached into the lagoon from the sacs and caused a bloom of ciguatera algae, which then worked its way up the food chain into all the lagoon fish!
…One simple human error with heavy costs for the local population…
“Well,” I thought to myself. “….At least the fish will get a break from being overfished!”
And I wandered off to refill my bottles…
The fish don't seem to mind...
3 Comments
Liz,
I was telling a friend about this person I knew who was in her twenties, sailing through the south pacific. We were talking about individuals who possess great positive attributes. I told him about your repair trials and triumphs. Your observance of the state of the natural world and our place in it, examples like biomimicry and what questions to ask when visiting a new reef sub-system as mentioned above. I am ever amazed by the insights you share with the rest of us. Thank you for what you do.
Mike
P.S. another saying for your collection–”We don’t inherit the earth, we borrow if from our children.”
Wow. What else can I say?
I was hoping you couldn’t eat the fish near the village because they were pets…..lol Ever when I was young I never ate the deer close to home because they were my friends .