A little drama was played out right in front of us.
The people from the village that has the fishing rights to our bay decided that it was time to re-establish the prohibition on fishing. (They imposed a ban in 2019, but lifted it when the COVID thing happened, because so many people lost their jobs and needed to fish to survive)
So a bunch of these guys (about 15) came by to erect signs warning everyone that the ban was back on.
Unfortunately the group included a few young hotheads who apparently spontaneously decided to trash the canoes of the fishermen who parked their craft on the foreshore. Something about teaching a lesson not to “steal” their fish (although it would have been perfectly legal to fish up to the moment the signs were re-erected)
Anyway, they broke the outriggers off about half a dozen canoes, effectively crippling them. Then they threw the outriggers into the water, whereupon they started to float out to sea on the tide.
See the outriggers floating away: https://in.vu/float
Knowing some of the canoe owners, I took pity on them, and after the visitors left, I swam out over the coral and retrieved a few that were not too far out.
Now here's the point: those canoe-owners lost their livelihood, instantly. Not fair, not even legal. But without a backup canoe, potentially devastating.
And hasn't the same sort of thing happened to thousands of people world-wide since the start of the pandemic?
So in YOUR life, what alternatives have you set up? Because I'm sure you agree that those whose strategy is to hope things will soon get “back to normal” will be sorely disappointed. We all need a “backup canoe.”
A realistic Plan B should include alternate places to live, work and play. For example, as soon as possible establish the legal right to move at a moment's notice to a different jurisdiction.
For those who want to explore the possibility of paradise Vanuatu as a bolthole, I am here to help. Realise that this is not a “cheap” undertaking, the same way as fire insurance is not “cheap” – but because of the much greater value of what it protects, we all gladly pay up. In this case it could be the sane future of our family.
Book an appointment to consider this option: https://in.vu/cal
* The following week the chief of the village where those men that imposed the fishing restrictions came from, chastised the group and announced they had acted without his approval. But too late! The damage was done for the canoe owners.
Lance in (bolthole) Vanuatu
