life & style // no. 16

 

Ghost poaching the a ay

> Capturing the Fu Yuan Yu legis 999, and oe more effort is needed

 

Brittney MacDonald
Life & Style Editor

 

he Galapagos Marine Reserve,

located approximately 1000 km
from mainland Ecuador, is a site known
for its plethora of unique species and
prominent biodiversity. Due to this, it
is protected under global law as a place
where no commercial fishing is allowed,
and it is a site that is routinely and heavily
monitored to ensure the safety of its
ecosystem and all animals that reside or
migrate through it. This includes several
species of endangered sharks, including
the iconic scallop hammerhead.

On August 13, authorities boarded
and investigated a Chinese ship that was
passing through the reserve according
to an article by Quartz. On board they
discovered approximately 135 metric
tons of shark meat, including meat from
endangered species—such as the scallop
hammerhead—as well as threatened

species, such as silky sharks. After
further investigation it was determined
that the suspect ship, the Fu Yuan Yu
Leng 999, was not the fishing vessel,
but merely a carrier vessel for the meat
gathered by smaller ships still at large.
These smaller vessels exploit an
international law that requires all large
transport vehicles to employ an Automatic
Identification System (AIS), which isa
form of GPS. Because these smaller vessels
do not commercially transport anything,
they are not required to have one, which
makes tracking them nearly impossible.
Hence the term “ghost poaching,” because
they are literally invisible on radar.
Though catching sharks as a result
of bycatch—meaning you are actually
fishing for something else and you
happen to catch a shark—is not illegal,
specifically targeting them is. Also, the
majority of the variety of shark meat
found on board the Fu Yuan Yu Leng
999 belonged to protected species of
sharks, which means that any transport of

RPG Hooks: Dwarfed

> Incorporating races of all size since 1974

Davie Wong
Sports Editor

 

warves, a name that is recognizable
to even the most inexperienced
RPG fan. Our lovable friends have come
a long way since their appearance in
Scandinavian folk stories and literature.
It only makes sense for them to be in
the ranks of most RPG’s basic races. But
what are dwarves, really? What defines a
dwarf? What defines the dwarven race?
As a Game Master, that’s up to you!
However, the biggest defining feature of
a dwarf is their diminutive size. Standing
around three to four and a half feet tall,
dwarves are, and always will be, someone
who is much shorter than the average
human. But that doesn’t have to be a
limiting factor! A dwarf in a world of
giants would be about human sized. And
a dwarf in a world where creatures are
small can be tiny! Or you could absolutely
flip the script and place the dwarves in
a tiny world where they are the giants!
The point is, the significance of a dwarf’s
size can be shifted to better appeal to the
world building you have done if needed.
Now that we've covered size, let’s
talk about personality! After all, it’s

not the size of dwarf, but the girth of
their heart that defines their place in a
world. Like any race, dwarves come in

a variety of personalities. However, the
modern dwarf is usually derived from
J.R. Tolkien’s dwarves—greedy, joyful,
gluttonous, and so much more. As such,
many dwarves in modern RPG’s have
followed suit. A GM doesn't have to fall
into that curse. In fact, as a GM, you can
dictate how the dwarves are portrayed.

Maybe they are the mountain
dwelling folk, greedy for riches found
beneath the earth, and the adventurers
are tasked with retrieving something
of particular value. If you want to spin
it around, maybe the party is stealing
something valuable from the dwarves.

Or perhaps the dwarves have
been pushed into exile by an exterior
force? Say another race? And the
party find themselves embroiled
in a racial dispute where they have
to navigate racial tensions.

They could also be isolationists,
closed off from the rest of civilization,
and the group needs to contact them
for some significant purpose.

If you really want to throw your
players off, perhaps the dwarf is the
mastermind behind some scheme that has

them is always illegal. In fact, according
to Ecuadorian law, the poaching and
transport of any protected species is not
only a breach of their legal system, but of
their constitution, which has recognized
the Rights of Nature since September of
2008. The Rights of Nature are defined
as the acknowledgement that all natural
life forms have a right to “exist, persist,
maintain, and regenerate” vital cycles, and
that as humans, we may enact judicial law
on behalf of nature’s many ecosystems.
It sounds complicated, but basically it
means that any act that endangers any
form of flora or fauna to the point of
extinction is a violation of the Rights of
Nature, and carries an up to three-year
prison sentence, as well as hefty fines.
Unfortunately, the ownership
of the Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999 is under
investigation, as the owner of the Fu
Yuan Yu fleet, a Chinese company by the
name of Pingtan Marine Enterprises,
claims that the ship was never theirs,
and that its previous owner, Fuzhou

 
 
 
 
 

  
  
   

you must Be

this tall

to enter dungeon

been unravelling for years, and he’s using
the party to put the final pieces in place.
The bottom line is that dwarves can
be just a versatile as any other fantasy
race. Use them to your advantage.
I love them in my games as the friend
who really isn't your friend. But there’s

theotherpress.ca

Photo by Kin Cheung via qz.com

Honglong Ocean Fishing, made a mistake
in claiming it as such. However, Pingtan
is currently under investigation for
human trafficking and shark poaching in
East Timor, and seems to have a history
of allocating various assets to shell
companies, usually to inflate prices.
Despite this, environmentalists claim
the capture of the Fu Yuan Yu Leng 999 is
a great step forward, and proof that their
new, heavier approach to monitoring the
Galapagos Marine Reserve is the way to
go. The plan is to buckle down on the
carrier vessels, which are more easily
monitored and spotted, and therefore
eliminate the revenue stream, which will
in turn starve out the illegal fishing boats.
If you'd like to donate to this effort
you can do so through the Galapagos
Marine Reserve website, or through the
Sea Shepherd Conservation Society by
selecting their Galapagos campaign
from their drop-down donation menu.

Illustration by Ed Appleby

so much you can do! If you ever want to
start a hook with them, just remember

to take some time to design them as a
race. Even if you use the standard Tolkien
dwarves, take some time to think over
their importance to the game, and to the
world. I’m sure it'll hook your players.