One line in the report stood out and lent a chilling coda to the story. After the Chinese poachers traveled hundreds of miles to steal fish from the Palauan waters, leaving behind families and risking life and limb, the crew caught fewer than a dozen fish, over several days of poaching, primarily Lapu Lapu, and several large clams. It seemed like a pathetically small yield and more proof of the area’s thinning fish stocks.
