-Deus- wrote:Hrmm. So why are they so reliant on the ability to be in the water? What stops/has stopped others from simply poisoning the water and killing a large part of them off? Or, what stops/has stopped an invasive specices, be it intentional or otherwise, from wandering in and crippling the ecosystem?
Many of the tropical fish surrounding Oiseaui were not fishable through normal methods hundreds if not thousands of years ago for either their depth and/or their ability to break basic fishing twine due to their weight. Additionally, many Oiseauians fished the mollusks or clams which line jagged break offs in the ocean. Before better fishing methods were developed, you simply had to get in the water and get it yourself with basic tools and nets. Obviously, as technology was introduced to the island and developed, this was not nearly as much of a problem but tribal methods continued to be (in some cases still are) honored traditions.
Where poisoning is concerned, theoretically you could poison the ocean surrounding Oiseaui but with tides it would spread far beyond Oiseaui and would be a silly and grossly ineffective. Furthermore, it isn't as if Oiseauians are breathing the water; so any poison would have to be absorbent directly through skin which again would be ineffective. Where invasive species are concerned, unless those species were other humans (which would cause war) or insects, they would be hunted and utilized where possible.