Fisherman With No Fish | Years of Living Dangerously

Through frequent dive trips to Appo Island, Renee has befriended many of the locals. Come over here, John Zenan is a third-generation fisherman who has spent his entire life on the island, living off its resources. He and his son Jory make daily trips to spear fish for the family. Renee tells me there's no better way to understand the importance of the reefs to the people here than to watch them at work. With the simplest homemade equipment, Zenan and Jory dive to depths of several meters, holding their breath for minutes at a time. It's beautiful to watch; this father and son are so in tune with the ocean, they almost look like they belong underwater.

But the fish they're hunting for are nowhere to be found. After a day in the water, Zenan and Jory have invited us back for a meal. Appo Island has a small population, and there are few resources beyond what the sea provides. There are no cars on the island, and most people eat what they catch or grow. Appo Island is not unusual; the Philippines is made up of more than 7,000 islands, and hundreds of thousands of Filipinos live just like this.

Zenan usually serves up what he finds on the reefs, but today it's canned fish.

“Josh, yes please! This would be a typical amount for four people, right?”

“A bit more than four, maybe even a bit more than four.”

“This actually yummy.”

“Yeah, this is very yummy. Today when we were watching, we saw that there wasn't really much for you to catch there.”

“Yeah, so this is not fresh fish; these are canned fish. Does that happen a lot?”

“Nights, days out of a week, sometimes no catch; three days out of a week there are meals that they don't get. They just don't eat.”

“Has it always been like that?”

“Oh no, no. Lots of fish used to be. Lots and lots of fish. Um, so then can they still exist off of what remains?”

“They should.”

“So in his best case scenario, what does he want for today and what does he want for tomorrow?”

“He's out fishing every day while you're in school.”

“Yes, when you finish with your studies, are you going to stay on the island?”

“Maybe, yeah.”

“So then is he happy that his sons and daughters are finding different opportunities and moving off the island, or is he sad that that way of life is broken now?”

“Oh, he wants them back. He'd rather have them; he wants them together.”