2021/2022
Collection 17

The Fish Feud

1990s; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; Micronesia(1)

Stan, my grandpa, returned home from his workday at a company that manufactures dog and cat food. His job there was to work as their lawyer. At home he ate dinner, kissed Mary Ann, my grandma, and climbed into bed.

Suddenly he was woken by the phone ringing like a fire alarm. Stan looked at the clock and thought, “Who could be calling in the middle of the night?”

He picked up, and on the other end of the line he heard the hurried and panicked voice of the captain of one of the company’s tuna boats: “Stan! Help! Our boat is being boarded by Micronesians!”

Shocked by the news, Stan replied in a worried tone, “What? Do they have any weapons or guns on them?”

“Yes!” said the captain. “What should we do?”

“Don’t do anything. Surrender and don’t cause any trouble! I’ll contact my boss immediately,” Stan said assuringly, ending the call.

“Hello?” said Stan’s boss, the president of the company.

“Hello. It’s Stanley. One of our tuna boats just got hijacked off the coast of Micronesia.”

“What?” gasped his awestruck boss. “Is the crew being held for ransom?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“This is an enormous case of piracy. This needs to be taken to a judge immediately.”

That violation of territorial water rights was such a big deal that the company filed a lawsuit that was taken internationally. As Stan unraveled the events, he found out that one of the company’s tuna boats had been fishing for tuna they needed in order to manufacture their product. The people of Micronesia were upset, because they lived off that same supply of tuna. They fed themselves with the tuna, made their money with it, and all around couldn’t live without it. The Micronesians were worried for their livelihood, as they should have been. They thought that the company was robbing them of their lifeline.

During this period when the company’s boats were near Micronesia, the Micronesians had tried to scare them off. But the company had continued fishing in their waters. Finally one day the Micronesians had had enough. They went to their government and asked what they should do. The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM) had said to wait till nightfall, sneak up on the company’s boat, and drive the company out of Micronesian waters.

That’s what happened the night Stan received the phone call. The Micronesians had even taken along guns and knives, thus making the event piracy and an armed intrusion. Thankfully, none of the crew got hurt, and all were released a few weeks later. The boat and its catch remained with the Micronesians as part of a settlement reached between the company and the country.  

That phone call from the captain is one that my grandpa will never forget.

Edward T. Rea; Missouri, USA

1. Micronesia includes around 600 small islands and more than one million square miles of the western Pacific Ocean, giving the country the fourteenth largest exclusive economic zone in the world.

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