Assuming that they could invest ALL their money from this into a boat and that they were getting paid the market value for the harvested abalone rather than offloading them to a middleman for a percentage cut or consuming them themselves. Because we all know that desperate, poor people are able to use all that spare money they have...S.L.Acker wrote:These people were totally willing to swim out and go poaching, but were too morally upstanding to steal a fucking boat so sharks wouldn't eat them? Hell even if they were aid to Africa ad poor, a boat would have cost them less than one weeks catch and made them safer as well as allowed them to haul more back thus making more money each subsequent week. That same boat would also give them a means to fish for food and take tourists to nice places thus providing many secondary sources of income which would allow them to eventually upgrade to bigger better boats. Clearly these people weren't thinking rationally and above all were going about getting money for their family in a piss poor way, there is no downside to getting some form of boat and using some income for a real fishing licence so they don't have to worry about the boat giving them away to the authorities.
What about stealing a boat? Maybe these guys have morals? WOW POACHERS WITH MORALS! I mean, isn't every shoplifter a spree killer in the making? Maybe they felt that poaching abalone was acceptable, but depriving someone else of their means of living or property wasn't. Maybe they realised that fishermen have something of a reputation worldwide and that stealing a fishing boat is a good way to, at best, get the shit beaten out of you - and that's before you get arrested for theft. Maybe they figured that poaching was less impact on others and less risk to themselves than burglary, car theft or other illicit means. Guys who swim 2 hours EACH WAY to get to work probably have a fairly solid work ethic and would love to have a legit job...
Not thinking rationally? Fuck you. And fuck you too AD.
Yeah, because I know lots of people who are below the poverty line and indulge in extreme sports and rare pets. They knowingly take risks because they're bored with their white collar existence, not because if they don't take a risk, their family will go hungry.A lot of people do dangerous things for shits and giggles. Base jumpers, people who ride motor cycles, people who keep venomous snakes as pets etc etc etc. Some people like risk, but take precautions to mitigate it. These people knowingly accept the risk, and accept that they earn what they get when that risk bites them in the ass. Ask anyone who has ever been tagged by their pet cobra. The first thing they say is "I fucked up, and earned that." I know this, because I know a good number of these people.
