The Rape Of Suwarrow

[Lighthouse]

Just what gives us the right to do such things - just because we can get ourselves to these places?



From the sv PRRRFECTION blog:

...... it has become necessary to have a ranger living on the island to stop the atoll from being exploited, raped - whatever, by those that are fortunate enough to get there.



John is the current Marine Park Ranger living on SUWARROW with Veronica his wife, and their 4 young sons. This family has tried for the last 3 years to bring back some order to SUWARROW. It is a marine park and there are rules to protect this atoll. I was shocked to read cruisers' logs of their stay on the atoll - reading about them having tern egg omelettes, having coconut crabs by the bags, catching and frying sea birds ...unbelievable!



IT IS NO MORE HAPPENING on SUWARROW!

Spear fishing is not allowed and it is only possible to anchor off Anchorage Island. Paradise is now being given a chance to restore itself and maybe more of us can share this idyllic place for longer! ........

[imagine2frolic]

As in every facet of life. There are those that only think of themselves, and today. Typically when you confront these kind of people they truly believe you are being the rude one.

[atavist]

not to defend the people that are doing this stuff but sometimes people really don't realize just how small the world is... when i first came on here I was asking about hunting on deserted islands.... I never even considered that some remote island with a bunch of "wild" pigs might be the property of some tribe and that I would be trespassing or stealing... I think a lot of us have just read one too many old adventure stories when the world was still a new frontier and there were places that weren't owned or regularly visited by anyone else and bringing in crabs by the bag and eating wild eggs wouldn't hurt anything because we were the only person to do it in a decade... but that's just not the way the world works anymore... I didn't realize that till I came on here... and if I hadn't i might very easily have been one of those people doing such things thinking it was no big deal.

... yet another example of how benificial this forum is... thanks guys.

[Pelagic]

So true atavist!

In the early 80’s I was one of those people living off the sea and what I would find on deserted pacific atolls. I thought nothing of it as there seemed to be an endless supply in these remote places. Revisiting 25 years later I am shocked at the devastation and cannot help but feel a bit guilty about my previous ignorance.