WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.200 Welcome back to the Deep Dive. I want to start 00:00:02.200 --> 00:00:04.160 today by asking you to do something a little 00:00:04.160 --> 00:00:07.139 bit old school. I want you to picture a map of 00:00:07.139 --> 00:00:10.199 the world. Okay. You know the one, the standard 00:00:10.199 --> 00:00:11.939 projection you probably had on the wall of your 00:00:11.939 --> 00:00:14.080 classroom growing up? The Mercator projection, 00:00:14.460 --> 00:00:16.579 all stretched out at the pole. That's the one. 00:00:16.800 --> 00:00:19.539 Yeah. Now you scan the Pacific Ocean, that massive 00:00:19.539 --> 00:00:22.100 overwhelming blue void between the Americas and 00:00:22.100 --> 00:00:24.859 Australia. If you look really, really closely, 00:00:25.079 --> 00:00:28.059 you might see a few specks. Maybe you see Hawaii 00:00:28.059 --> 00:00:31.250 because it's bolded. Maybe Fiji. But if you look 00:00:31.250 --> 00:00:33.189 to the subject of today's deep dive, you might 00:00:33.189 --> 00:00:35.549 just miss it entirely. Which is ironic, considering 00:00:35.549 --> 00:00:37.909 just how much space they actually take up. Exactly. 00:00:37.909 --> 00:00:40.250 We're looking at the Cook Islands. Yeah. And 00:00:40.250 --> 00:00:43.409 on paper, this place is a paradox. Yeah. I was 00:00:43.409 --> 00:00:45.090 looking at the data you pulled, and the math, 00:00:45.210 --> 00:00:48.609 it barely makes sense. We're talking about a 00:00:48.609 --> 00:00:52.070 country with a landmass of roughly 236 square 00:00:52.070 --> 00:00:54.090 kilometers. Right. To put that in perspective 00:00:54.090 --> 00:00:56.369 for you, that's smaller than the city of Milwaukee. 00:00:57.179 --> 00:00:59.799 It's smaller than the Cayman Islands. It's tiny. 00:01:00.039 --> 00:01:04.079 It is. It's essentially 15 small islands scattered 00:01:04.079 --> 00:01:06.599 across the water. If you stood on the highest 00:01:06.599 --> 00:01:08.680 point on the main island and looked out, you'd 00:01:08.680 --> 00:01:11.560 see a lot of ocean and very, very little else. 00:01:11.939 --> 00:01:15.579 But, and this is the hook that got me, if you 00:01:15.579 --> 00:01:18.180 draw a line around their territorial waters, 00:01:18.480 --> 00:01:23.069 their exclusive economic zone, or EEZ, It is 00:01:23.069 --> 00:01:25.450 nearly 2 million square kilometers. That's the 00:01:25.450 --> 00:01:27.969 paradox of scale right there. You have a landmass 00:01:27.969 --> 00:01:30.890 the size of a mid -sized city, but an ocean footprint 00:01:30.890 --> 00:01:33.629 roughly the size of Western Europe. Western Europe, 00:01:33.670 --> 00:01:37.010 that's staggering. It is. Or, to use a different 00:01:37.010 --> 00:01:38.769 comparison that might be easier to visualize, 00:01:39.069 --> 00:01:41.629 it's an area of ocean comparable to the entire 00:01:41.629 --> 00:01:44.629 landmass of Mexico. So practically speaking, 00:01:44.829 --> 00:01:47.670 this is a country that is 99 .9 % water. And 00:01:47.670 --> 00:01:50.530 0 .1 % land. That's the reality of the Cook Islands. 00:01:50.750 --> 00:01:52.709 You're not governing land with a bit of coast. 00:01:52.989 --> 00:01:55.010 You're governing an ocean that happens to have 00:01:55.010 --> 00:01:57.750 a few islands in it. That ratio defines everything 00:01:57.750 --> 00:01:59.129 we're going to talk about today, doesn't it? 00:01:59.329 --> 00:02:01.769 Completely. It's not just a geography factoid. 00:02:02.209 --> 00:02:05.209 It shapes their politics, their economy, their 00:02:05.209 --> 00:02:08.430 entire identity. It's the canvas upon which their 00:02:08.430 --> 00:02:11.740 national story is painted. Absolutely. The mission 00:02:11.740 --> 00:02:14.960 for this deep dive is to unpack how a micronation 00:02:15.580 --> 00:02:17.659 because that's what it is, geographically manages 00:02:17.659 --> 00:02:20.120 to punch so far above its weight class. It really 00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:22.379 does. We're looking at a place that has to maintain 00:02:22.379 --> 00:02:25.800 a distinct cultural identity while navigating 00:02:25.800 --> 00:02:29.199 a very complex, almost confusing political marriage 00:02:29.199 --> 00:02:32.319 with New Zealand. And it's not just about politics. 00:02:32.539 --> 00:02:34.819 The surprising facts list in these articles was 00:02:34.819 --> 00:02:36.919 wild. I mean, we're going to talk about a fish 00:02:36.919 --> 00:02:39.460 that costs as much as a new car. A very nice 00:02:39.460 --> 00:02:40.879 new car at that. We're going to talk about a 00:02:40.879 --> 00:02:43.930 legal framework that was explicitly designed 00:02:43.930 --> 00:02:46.530 to effectively tell the U .S. Department of Justice 00:02:46.530 --> 00:02:48.229 to take a hike. And we're going to get into the 00:02:48.229 --> 00:02:51.430 really thorny issue of seabed mining, which pits 00:02:51.430 --> 00:02:53.810 their identity as these pristine ocean guardians 00:02:53.810 --> 00:02:56.610 against the potential for massive, massive wealth. 00:02:56.949 --> 00:03:00.030 It's a lot to cover. But let's start where we 00:03:00.030 --> 00:03:03.830 always should. The physical reality. Because 00:03:03.830 --> 00:03:07.340 the Cook Islands implies a single group. But 00:03:07.340 --> 00:03:09.620 looking at the breakdown, it feels like we're 00:03:09.620 --> 00:03:11.800 dealing with two completely different worlds. 00:03:12.020 --> 00:03:14.960 We really are. Geographically and geologically, 00:03:15.139 --> 00:03:17.479 the country is split into two distinct chains, 00:03:17.860 --> 00:03:20.639 the northern group and the southern group. And 00:03:20.639 --> 00:03:22.439 they couldn't be more different. Not at all. 00:03:22.539 --> 00:03:24.139 It's almost like two different countries that 00:03:24.139 --> 00:03:25.960 just happen to share a flag and a government. 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:29.560 Okay, so let's start with the north. When I read 00:03:29.560 --> 00:03:31.379 the descriptions of the northern group islands 00:03:31.379 --> 00:03:34.159 like Penryn and Manihiki, it felt like reading 00:03:34.159 --> 00:03:36.990 about a different planet. or at least the classic 00:03:36.990 --> 00:03:39.330 desert island cartoon. You know, the one with 00:03:39.330 --> 00:03:41.129 the single palm tree. That's a fair comparison. 00:03:41.289 --> 00:03:43.990 The northern group consists of these incredibly 00:03:43.990 --> 00:03:47.430 old coral atolls. And to understand them, you 00:03:47.430 --> 00:03:49.270 have to understand the geology of the Pacific. 00:03:49.629 --> 00:03:52.810 These used to be high volcanic islands millions 00:03:52.810 --> 00:03:55.389 and millions of years ago. Like Hawaii. Exactly 00:03:55.389 --> 00:03:58.810 like Hawaii is now. But over eons, the heavy 00:03:58.810 --> 00:04:01.490 volcanic rocks sank back into the Earth's crust. 00:04:02.139 --> 00:04:05.460 a process called subsidence. As the land sank, 00:04:05.580 --> 00:04:07.340 the coral reefs that were growing around the 00:04:07.340 --> 00:04:09.800 edges of the island just kept growing upwards 00:04:09.800 --> 00:04:13.060 to stay near the sunlight. So the volcano disappears 00:04:13.060 --> 00:04:15.659 underwater and you're left with just the ring 00:04:15.659 --> 00:04:17.939 of coral that was growing around it. Precisely. 00:04:17.939 --> 00:04:20.279 You're left with a ring of coral reef and sand, 00:04:20.399 --> 00:04:22.399 usually enclosing a lagoon where the mountain 00:04:22.399 --> 00:04:24.879 used to be. We are talking about land that is 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:28.019 mere meters above sea level. Wow. If a big wave 00:04:28.019 --> 00:04:30.920 from a cyclone comes, it washes right over. There's 00:04:30.920 --> 00:04:32.860 no high ground to run to. And because they are 00:04:32.860 --> 00:04:34.939 these sunken volcanoes, there's not much soil, 00:04:35.100 --> 00:04:36.980 right? You can't exactly run a farm there. It's 00:04:36.980 --> 00:04:39.519 just sand and coral rubble. No, not at all. It's 00:04:39.519 --> 00:04:42.689 a subsistence lifestyle. Coconut palms, you have 00:04:42.689 --> 00:04:45.430 breadfruit, you have taro that you grow in excavated 00:04:45.430 --> 00:04:47.689 pits, you have pigs, and you have fish from the 00:04:47.689 --> 00:04:49.750 lagoon and the ocean. That's about it. So it's 00:04:49.750 --> 00:04:53.769 rugged. It is a rugged frontier existence. Freshwater 00:04:53.769 --> 00:04:56.410 is a constant struggle. You rely heavily on rainwater 00:04:56.410 --> 00:04:58.649 catchment systems. If there's a drought, you 00:04:58.649 --> 00:05:00.870 are in serious trouble. And they are isolated. 00:05:01.089 --> 00:05:04.790 I mean, truly isolated. Incredibly so. These 00:05:04.790 --> 00:05:06.930 islands are hundreds and hundreds of kilometers 00:05:06.930 --> 00:05:09.350 apart from each other, let alone from the capital 00:05:09.350 --> 00:05:12.009 in the south. We aren't talking about a quick 00:05:12.009 --> 00:05:15.569 ferry ride. It can take days, sometimes a week, 00:05:15.610 --> 00:05:17.889 to get there by boat. A week on the open ocean, 00:05:17.990 --> 00:05:19.829 just to get to another part of your own country. 00:05:19.990 --> 00:05:22.490 And flights are infrequent and very expensive. 00:05:23.149 --> 00:05:26.350 It's a level of isolation that is hard for most 00:05:26.350 --> 00:05:28.670 of us living in interconnected cities to really 00:05:28.670 --> 00:05:31.350 grasp. Okay, so contrast that with the southern 00:05:31.350 --> 00:05:34.600 group. This is where Rarotonga is. The main island, 00:05:34.740 --> 00:05:36.899 the capital. Right. And the southern group is 00:05:36.899 --> 00:05:39.259 a whole different ballgame. Geologically, it's 00:05:39.259 --> 00:05:42.680 much younger. These are high islands. They are 00:05:42.680 --> 00:05:45.279 volcanic, mountainous, jagged. They look more 00:05:45.279 --> 00:05:47.420 like what you'd see in a movie. Exactly. If you 00:05:47.420 --> 00:05:49.399 look at Rarotonga, it looks like a mini Tahiti 00:05:49.399 --> 00:05:52.300 or a mini Kauai. You have these sharp, dramatic 00:05:52.300 --> 00:05:55.279 peaks covered in dense green jungle. Because 00:05:55.279 --> 00:05:57.199 they haven't sunk yet. They're still in their 00:05:57.199 --> 00:06:00.860 volcanic prime, so to speak. Exactly. And because 00:06:00.860 --> 00:06:03.839 volcanic soil is incredibly fertile, they are 00:06:03.839 --> 00:06:06.199 lush, they are green, they can support commercial 00:06:06.199 --> 00:06:09.120 agriculture, citrus, bananas, all sorts of things. 00:06:09.180 --> 00:06:11.759 They can support a much higher population density. 00:06:12.019 --> 00:06:14.079 Which explains the population split you mentioned. 00:06:14.160 --> 00:06:16.620 It does. It's the fundamental reason. About 90 00:06:16.620 --> 00:06:19.160 % of the entire population of the Cook Islands 00:06:19.160 --> 00:06:22.420 lives in the southern group, and the vast majority 00:06:22.420 --> 00:06:25.439 of those are on Rarotonga alone. So you have 00:06:25.439 --> 00:06:27.589 this dynamic where... capital, the international 00:06:27.589 --> 00:06:30.050 airport, the hospitals, the government, everything 00:06:30.050 --> 00:06:32.009 is concentrated in the south. And the north is 00:06:32.009 --> 00:06:35.029 just out there. It's the outer islands. And in 00:06:35.029 --> 00:06:37.230 the Cook Islands context, outer really means 00:06:37.230 --> 00:06:39.129 outer. It's not like taking a train to the suburbs. 00:06:39.310 --> 00:06:41.769 Right. It creates a fascinating internal dynamic 00:06:41.769 --> 00:06:44.610 where the lived experience of a Cook Islander 00:06:44.610 --> 00:06:47.389 in Manihiki who might be a pro farmer is vastly 00:06:47.389 --> 00:06:49.529 different from one in Rarotonga who works in 00:06:49.529 --> 00:06:52.350 the tourism ministry. But that isolation, that 00:06:52.350 --> 00:06:56.399 deep, relatively untouched water. It has an upside, 00:06:56.579 --> 00:06:58.439 doesn't it? The source material mentions that 00:06:58.439 --> 00:07:00.519 these waters are hiding some biological treasures. 00:07:00.740 --> 00:07:03.620 Yeah. And I have to talk about this fish. The 00:07:03.620 --> 00:07:06.620 peppermint angelfish. Ugh. Centropigeon boilie. 00:07:06.839 --> 00:07:11.259 Yes. A legend in the marine biology and aquarium 00:07:11.259 --> 00:07:16.800 world. The notes say it costs $30 ,000. $30 ,000 00:07:16.800 --> 00:07:19.620 U .S. dollars for a single fish. I mean, I've 00:07:19.620 --> 00:07:21.730 bought cars for... Less than a tenth of that. 00:07:21.829 --> 00:07:24.689 In the high -end aquarium trade, yes, it is the 00:07:24.689 --> 00:07:27.389 Holy Grail. If you are a very wealthy collector 00:07:27.389 --> 00:07:31.389 in Tokyo or New York or Dubai, this is the centerpiece. 00:07:31.449 --> 00:07:33.509 This is the fish you show off. Why? What makes 00:07:33.509 --> 00:07:35.290 it so special? Is it made of gold? Is it the 00:07:35.290 --> 00:07:37.529 last one on Earth? No, and that's the fascinating 00:07:37.529 --> 00:07:40.370 part. It's not endangered in the sense that there 00:07:40.370 --> 00:07:43.110 are only three left. In its specific deep water 00:07:43.110 --> 00:07:45.110 habitat around the Cook Islands, it's actually 00:07:45.110 --> 00:07:47.310 reasonably common. The problem isn't finding 00:07:47.310 --> 00:07:49.230 it. The problem is getting it. It lives in the 00:07:49.230 --> 00:07:50.910 twilight zone, right? That's what they call it. 00:07:50.970 --> 00:07:52.730 Exactly. We're talking about the mesophotic zone, 00:07:52.889 --> 00:07:56.550 deep coral reefs, usually between 50 to 120 meters 00:07:56.550 --> 00:07:59.829 deep. Okay, so for non -divers, 120 meters, that's 00:07:59.829 --> 00:08:03.339 not just deep. That's extremely deep. It is crushing 00:08:03.339 --> 00:08:06.279 depth. To put it in perspective, a standard recreational 00:08:06.279 --> 00:08:09.040 scuba diving certification usually limits you 00:08:09.040 --> 00:08:12.279 to 30 or 40 meters. To go to 100 meters requires 00:08:12.279 --> 00:08:14.839 highly specialized equipment called rebreathers, 00:08:14.860 --> 00:08:18.060 which recycle your air. You're breathing mixed 00:08:18.060 --> 00:08:21.939 gases, usually trimix, which adds helium to the 00:08:21.939 --> 00:08:24.339 breathing gas to counteract the narcotic effects 00:08:24.339 --> 00:08:26.899 of nitrogen at that pressure. So it's a technical 00:08:26.899 --> 00:08:29.560 dangerous dive. It's closer to being an astronaut 00:08:29.560 --> 00:08:32.740 than a swimmer. The planning, the risk. The training, 00:08:32.899 --> 00:08:35.919 it's immense. But here's the kicker. Even if 00:08:35.919 --> 00:08:37.419 you can get down there and you manage to catch 00:08:37.419 --> 00:08:39.519 one in a little net, you can't just bring it 00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:42.500 up. No. That's the biology constraint. And it's 00:08:42.500 --> 00:08:44.940 the same for any deepwater fish. They have swim 00:08:44.940 --> 00:08:47.059 bladders. These are gas -filled organs that help 00:08:47.059 --> 00:08:49.580 them maintain buoyancy. If you bring a fish up 00:08:49.580 --> 00:08:52.539 from 100 meters to the surface quickly, the surrounding 00:08:52.539 --> 00:08:54.799 water pressure drops dramatically and the gas 00:08:54.799 --> 00:08:57.259 in that swim bladder expands. Like opening a 00:08:57.259 --> 00:08:59.860 shaken soda can. Perfect analogy. It's fatal. 00:08:59.940 --> 00:09:01.779 It ruptures their internal organs. It's the same 00:09:01.779 --> 00:09:04.259 principle as the bends or decompression sickness 00:09:04.259 --> 00:09:06.759 in human divers. You have to decompress the fish. 00:09:07.230 --> 00:09:10.570 You do. It is an incredibly slow, painstaking 00:09:10.570 --> 00:09:13.289 process. You have to bring them up in stages, 00:09:13.450 --> 00:09:16.129 holding them at certain depths for hours, sometimes 00:09:16.129 --> 00:09:19.190 over days, to let the gas in their system slowly 00:09:19.190 --> 00:09:24.029 off gas and equalize. Or you use special hyperbaric 00:09:24.029 --> 00:09:26.789 chambers designed for fish. Wow. That is what 00:09:26.789 --> 00:09:28.509 you are paying for. You aren't paying for the 00:09:28.509 --> 00:09:30.769 fish. You're paying for the technical mastery, 00:09:31.009 --> 00:09:34.009 the specialized equipment, and the immense risk 00:09:34.009 --> 00:09:36.690 required to retrieve it alive and healthy. Strangely 00:09:36.690 --> 00:09:38.450 striking, too, I take it. It's not just a brown 00:09:38.450 --> 00:09:40.769 fish. Oh, it's beautiful. It's stunning. It's 00:09:40.769 --> 00:09:43.649 a bright, burning orange -red with these stark, 00:09:43.830 --> 00:09:46.149 clean, vertical white stripes. It looks almost 00:09:46.149 --> 00:09:48.830 painted, like a piece of pop art. In a tank, 00:09:48.850 --> 00:09:51.490 under the right lighting, it glows. So we have 00:09:51.490 --> 00:09:54.129 this amazing biodiversity win with the angelfish. 00:09:54.450 --> 00:09:56.870 But the sources also point to a major biodiversity 00:09:56.870 --> 00:09:59.610 tragedy. And it involves a villain we see all 00:09:59.610 --> 00:10:01.960 over the Pacific history books, the rat. The 00:10:01.960 --> 00:10:04.759 scourge of islands everywhere. A truly devastating 00:10:04.759 --> 00:10:07.379 invasive species. In the Cook Islands, you have 00:10:07.379 --> 00:10:09.360 two types of invaders. You have the Kiorotoka, 00:10:09.539 --> 00:10:11.379 the Polynesian rat, which arrived with the original 00:10:11.379 --> 00:10:13.299 Polynesian settlers over a thousand years ago. 00:10:13.539 --> 00:10:15.399 So that one's been there a while. A long while. 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:18.080 But then you have the real killer, the ship rat, 00:10:18.259 --> 00:10:21.080 the Norway rat, which arrived with the Europeans 00:10:21.080 --> 00:10:23.460 on their sailing vessels in the 18th and 19th 00:10:23.460 --> 00:10:27.340 centuries. They're bigger, more aggressive, and 00:10:27.340 --> 00:10:30.360 more rapacious. And for birds that evolved on 00:10:30.360 --> 00:10:33.019 islands without any ground predators, this is 00:10:33.019 --> 00:10:35.200 the apocalypse. It is. You have to understand, 00:10:35.320 --> 00:10:38.440 these birds evolved in a paradise. There were 00:10:38.440 --> 00:10:41.080 no snakes, no stoats, no pets, no mammals to 00:10:41.080 --> 00:10:43.460 eat them. Many of them nest on the ground or 00:10:43.460 --> 00:10:45.600 in low branches. They didn't evolve fear because 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:47.200 they didn't need it. They wouldn't know to fly 00:10:47.200 --> 00:10:49.879 away. And then suddenly there's a rat, a creature 00:10:49.879 --> 00:10:52.460 they have no instinct for. Exactly. The rats 00:10:52.460 --> 00:10:54.960 swarm the nests. They eat the eggs. They eat 00:10:54.960 --> 00:10:57.750 the chicks. For many species, the breeding success 00:10:57.750 --> 00:11:00.690 rate dropped to zero. The impact was catastrophic. 00:11:00.950 --> 00:11:03.149 The forests went silent. There was a specific 00:11:03.149 --> 00:11:06.769 story in the notes about lorikeet, the cool's 00:11:06.769 --> 00:11:09.210 lorikeet. The Rheumatara lorikeet, or the coor 00:11:09.210 --> 00:11:11.710 in the local language. It's a small, vibrant 00:11:11.710 --> 00:11:14.610 bird with a bright red breast and green wings. 00:11:14.669 --> 00:11:16.669 Just a beautiful little thing. And it was native 00:11:16.669 --> 00:11:19.129 to the Cooks. Historically, it was found on at 00:11:19.129 --> 00:11:22.039 least five of the southern islands. But it wasn't 00:11:22.039 --> 00:11:24.480 just the rats that got them. Humans. Humans played 00:11:24.480 --> 00:11:27.179 a role too. They were prized for those red feathers. 00:11:27.860 --> 00:11:31.299 In Polynesian culture, red is a high status color. 00:11:31.460 --> 00:11:34.799 It's the color of royalty, of chiefs. It represents 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:38.559 mana spiritual power, authority, divinity. So 00:11:38.559 --> 00:11:41.240 the feathers were a status symbol. A huge one. 00:11:41.629 --> 00:11:44.230 The feathers were used in chiefly girdles in 00:11:44.230 --> 00:11:47.990 ceremonial headdresses. To make one single chiefly 00:11:47.990 --> 00:11:50.549 girdle could require the feathers of hundreds 00:11:50.549 --> 00:11:52.889 of birds. That's not sustainable. Not at all. 00:11:52.970 --> 00:11:55.690 So between the human exploitation for fashion 00:11:55.690 --> 00:11:57.929 and status and the relentless rat predation, 00:11:58.169 --> 00:12:00.870 the cool's lorikeet went extinct in the Cook 00:12:00.870 --> 00:12:03.730 Islands. Gone. Wiped out. Completely. Completely 00:12:03.730 --> 00:12:05.570 wiped out by the early 20th century. But the 00:12:05.570 --> 00:12:07.629 story doesn't end there, which is the hopeful 00:12:07.629 --> 00:12:09.950 part. This is where we get a bit of a Jurassic 00:12:09.950 --> 00:12:12.679 Park moment. the dinosaurs eating people. A much 00:12:12.679 --> 00:12:15.279 more successful reintroduction story, yes. A 00:12:15.279 --> 00:12:18.019 small remnant population had survived on the 00:12:18.019 --> 00:12:20.799 single rat -free island of Rimitara in French 00:12:20.799 --> 00:12:24.460 Polynesia. In 2007, conservationists from several 00:12:24.460 --> 00:12:27.879 organizations launched this desperate rescue 00:12:27.879 --> 00:12:30.360 mission. An ark, basically. A modern -day ark. 00:12:30.500 --> 00:12:33.240 They took 27 of these birds from Rimitara and 00:12:33.240 --> 00:12:35.519 flew them to the island of Attu in the Cooks. 00:12:35.960 --> 00:12:39.399 27 birds to restart an entire species in a new 00:12:39.399 --> 00:12:42.580 country. That is a genetic bottleneck if I've 00:12:42.580 --> 00:12:44.740 ever heard one. The margin for error is zero. 00:12:44.919 --> 00:12:48.139 It is incredibly risky. One bad storm, one disease 00:12:48.139 --> 00:12:51.120 outbreak, and it's over. But Attu was chosen 00:12:51.120 --> 00:12:53.480 very carefully. They had done extensive back 00:12:53.480 --> 00:12:55.600 -breaking work on rat control to create safe 00:12:55.600 --> 00:12:58.139 zones. And crucially, the community on Attu was 00:12:58.139 --> 00:13:00.399 on board. That was the key. They wanted the bird 00:13:00.399 --> 00:13:03.549 back. The local chiefs placed a rahui, a traditional 00:13:03.549 --> 00:13:05.870 ban, on harming the birds. The community saw 00:13:05.870 --> 00:13:07.970 it as reclaiming a piece of their lost heritage, 00:13:08.210 --> 00:13:10.789 their taonga. Did it work? It was a resounding 00:13:10.789 --> 00:13:13.850 success. The population is now established. They 00:13:13.850 --> 00:13:15.970 are breeding. The birds are thriving. It's one 00:13:15.970 --> 00:13:18.250 of the great conservation comeback stories of 00:13:18.250 --> 00:13:21.129 the Pacific. It proves that even when we break 00:13:21.129 --> 00:13:24.029 an ecosystem, sometimes with enough effort, science, 00:13:24.149 --> 00:13:28.309 and community buy -in, we can fix it. That mindset 00:13:28.309 --> 00:13:31.009 fixing and protecting the ecosystem seems to 00:13:31.009 --> 00:13:34.590 be formalized now on a much grander scale. We 00:13:34.590 --> 00:13:36.850 have to talk about Maura Moana. The sacred ocean. 00:13:36.990 --> 00:13:40.450 This was established in 2017. And the scale of 00:13:40.450 --> 00:13:42.289 this thing goes right back to our paradox of 00:13:42.289 --> 00:13:45.500 scale in the intro. It's mind boggling. It does. 00:13:45.659 --> 00:13:47.759 It's the ultimate expression of that paradox. 00:13:47.960 --> 00:13:50.240 The government passed legislation designating 00:13:50.240 --> 00:13:53.740 the entire exclusive economic zone, all 1 .9 00:13:53.740 --> 00:13:56.240 million square kilometers as a marine park. Wait, 00:13:56.259 --> 00:13:58.039 the whole thing, not just a designated sanctuary 00:13:58.039 --> 00:14:00.019 in one corner. The whole thing. Now, that doesn't 00:14:00.019 --> 00:14:01.860 mean you can't fish anywhere. It's a mixed use 00:14:01.860 --> 00:14:04.519 park. It has strictly zoned areas for different 00:14:04.519 --> 00:14:06.759 activities. There are exclusion zones around 00:14:06.759 --> 00:14:08.940 each island where commercial fishing and mining 00:14:08.940 --> 00:14:11.259 are banned, creating protective bubbles. But 00:14:11.259 --> 00:14:14.629 the entire zone operates. under a single framework 00:14:14.629 --> 00:14:17.590 of conservation first. It is the largest single 00:14:17.590 --> 00:14:20.409 protected area on the planet designated by one 00:14:20.409 --> 00:14:23.210 country. That is a massive statement for a country 00:14:23.210 --> 00:14:26.690 of 15 ,000 people to make. It's saying, we aren't 00:14:26.690 --> 00:14:29.289 just islands in the sea. We are a sea nation. 00:14:30.159 --> 00:14:32.480 Exactly. It completely shifts the psychology. 00:14:32.779 --> 00:14:35.120 The ocean isn't just the empty space between 00:14:35.120 --> 00:14:38.480 the islands. The ocean is the country. It reinforces 00:14:38.480 --> 00:14:41.039 their role as custodians of what they call the 00:14:41.039 --> 00:14:43.340 Blue Pacific. Which makes the mining debate we'll 00:14:43.340 --> 00:14:45.379 get to later all the more complicated and fraught 00:14:45.379 --> 00:14:47.559 with tension. It really does. But before we get 00:14:47.559 --> 00:14:49.700 to the modern economy, I want to step back. We've 00:14:49.700 --> 00:14:52.220 talked about the land and the water. Now I want 00:14:52.220 --> 00:14:54.919 to talk about the name, the Cook Islands. A name 00:14:54.919 --> 00:14:57.600 that carries a lot of baggage and a lot of historical 00:14:57.600 --> 00:15:00.149 confusion. I was surprised, I mean genuinely 00:15:00.149 --> 00:15:02.850 surprised, to learn that Captain Cook didn't 00:15:02.850 --> 00:15:05.610 name them that. No, that is one of the most common 00:15:05.610 --> 00:15:08.090 misconceptions in Pacific history. Captain James 00:15:08.090 --> 00:15:11.289 Cook did visit. He stopped by in 1773 and again 00:15:11.289 --> 00:15:14.429 in 1777 during his voyages. He was just passing 00:15:14.429 --> 00:15:16.950 through. Essentially. He spent very little time 00:15:16.950 --> 00:15:19.110 there. He charted some of the islands for sure. 00:15:19.549 --> 00:15:23.519 He named one island Manue, Hervey Island. After 00:15:23.519 --> 00:15:25.519 a Lord of the Admiralty back in England. Okay, 00:15:25.580 --> 00:15:28.159 so a classic colonial naming convention. Very 00:15:28.159 --> 00:15:31.200 typical. But he actually missed Rarotonga entirely, 00:15:31.639 --> 00:15:33.559 the main island. He sailed right past it without 00:15:33.559 --> 00:15:36.179 seeing it. So the idea that he discovered or 00:15:36.179 --> 00:15:39.299 named the whole group is just wrong. So for a 00:15:39.299 --> 00:15:41.679 while on the British maps, they were the Hervey 00:15:41.679 --> 00:15:43.799 Islands. The southern group was, yes, for about 00:15:43.799 --> 00:15:47.200 50 years. So how on earth did we get Cook Islands? 00:15:47.639 --> 00:15:50.799 If not from Cook, then from who? The name actually 00:15:50.799 --> 00:15:53.419 came from a Russian. A Russian? In the South 00:15:53.419 --> 00:15:55.799 Pacific. How does that happen? A Baltic German 00:15:55.799 --> 00:15:58.340 cartographer working for the Russian Navy? An 00:15:58.340 --> 00:16:01.419 admiral named Adam Johann von Krusenstern? Okay, 00:16:01.500 --> 00:16:04.500 that is a name. In the 1820s, decades after Cook 00:16:04.500 --> 00:16:07.440 had died. Kruisenstern was compiling this grand, 00:16:07.659 --> 00:16:10.980 definitive atlas of the Pacific. He admired Cook 00:16:10.980 --> 00:16:13.639 immensely as a navigator and explorer. He saw 00:16:13.639 --> 00:16:16.519 him as the father of Pacific cartography. So 00:16:16.519 --> 00:16:18.500 as a tribute, he looked at the southern group 00:16:18.500 --> 00:16:20.740 of islands on his charts and decided to name 00:16:20.740 --> 00:16:23.100 them the Cook Islands in honor of the captain. 00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:25.840 So a Russian cartographer working in St. Petersburg 00:16:25.840 --> 00:16:28.779 named a Polynesian nation after a British explorer 00:16:28.779 --> 00:16:31.100 who barely spent any time there. It shows that 00:16:31.100 --> 00:16:33.399 globalization started earlier than we think. 00:16:33.500 --> 00:16:36.200 And that name. published in this very influential 00:16:36.200 --> 00:16:39.470 atlas, stuck. it became the international standard. 00:16:39.690 --> 00:16:41.289 But before the Russians and the British showed 00:16:41.289 --> 00:16:44.070 up, the islands obviously had names. And looking 00:16:44.070 --> 00:16:46.429 at the Spanish records, some of the very first 00:16:46.429 --> 00:16:49.110 European names were arguably much, much better. 00:16:49.230 --> 00:16:51.990 Much more poetic, certainly. The Spanish were 00:16:51.990 --> 00:16:54.029 actually the first Europeans to spot the northern 00:16:54.029 --> 00:16:58.289 islands, way back in 1595. The explorer Alvaro 00:16:58.289 --> 00:17:01.789 de Mendana saw the atoll of Pucapuca and named 00:17:01.789 --> 00:17:04.990 it San Bernardo. San Bernardo, okay. A bit generic. 00:17:05.470 --> 00:17:09.390 It is. But then in 1606, the Portuguese captain 00:17:09.390 --> 00:17:12.289 Pedro Fernandes de Queiroz, who was sailing for 00:17:12.289 --> 00:17:16.069 Spain, landed on the island of Rockahunga. And 00:17:16.069 --> 00:17:18.210 he was so struck by the inhabitants, he described 00:17:18.210 --> 00:17:20.869 them as healthy, strong, beautiful, that he named 00:17:20.869 --> 00:17:23.950 the island Gente Hermosa. Which translates to? 00:17:24.069 --> 00:17:26.450 Beautiful people. The island of beautiful people. 00:17:26.490 --> 00:17:28.210 I mean, come on, from a branding perspective, 00:17:28.609 --> 00:17:31.450 that is gold. Why would you trade the island 00:17:31.450 --> 00:17:34.410 of beautiful people for the Cook Islands? Well, 00:17:34.470 --> 00:17:37.150 colonial powers rarely asked the locals for branding 00:17:37.150 --> 00:17:39.950 advice. The maps were drawn in London and St. 00:17:40.009 --> 00:17:43.190 Petersburg, not Rakahanga. But this brings us 00:17:43.190 --> 00:17:46.250 to a very modern, very heated debate. There is 00:17:46.250 --> 00:17:48.190 a strong movement to change the name. To get 00:17:48.190 --> 00:17:51.089 rid of Cook. Yes. The name is seen by many as 00:17:51.089 --> 00:17:54.150 a colonial relic. In 2019, a government committee 00:17:54.150 --> 00:17:56.190 was formed to look into this, and they actually 00:17:56.190 --> 00:17:58.269 recommended dropping the English name entirely 00:17:58.269 --> 00:18:01.190 to find a new title that reflects the Polynesian 00:18:01.190 --> 00:18:03.630 nature of the nation. Something indigenous. Exactly. 00:18:03.650 --> 00:18:05.849 Something that spoke to their own history, not 00:18:05.849 --> 00:18:08.329 a British captain's history, especially a captain 00:18:08.329 --> 00:18:10.329 who didn't even stop at the main island and had 00:18:10.329 --> 00:18:12.710 nothing to do with naming the country. It makes 00:18:12.710 --> 00:18:16.500 sense. We've seen this happen elsewhere. Swaziland 00:18:16.500 --> 00:18:20.259 became Eswatini. Rhodesia became Zimbabwe. It's 00:18:20.259 --> 00:18:22.920 a post -colonial reclaiming of identity. It is. 00:18:23.019 --> 00:18:25.759 But the backlash was fascinating. It didn't just 00:18:25.759 --> 00:18:28.039 come from conservative traditionalists on the 00:18:28.039 --> 00:18:29.940 islands or, you know, people worried about the 00:18:29.940 --> 00:18:32.950 cost of rebranding the tourism board. Where did 00:18:32.950 --> 00:18:36.589 it come from? It came very loudly and very passionately 00:18:36.589 --> 00:18:38.869 from the diaspora. The Cook Islanders living 00:18:38.869 --> 00:18:41.410 overseas. Right. And we'll touch on the numbers 00:18:41.410 --> 00:18:43.750 later, but they are staggering. There are way 00:18:43.750 --> 00:18:46.930 more Cook Islanders in New Zealand and Australia 00:18:46.930 --> 00:18:49.750 than there are in the Cook Islands itself. And 00:18:49.750 --> 00:18:52.250 a huge number of them said, no, don't change 00:18:52.250 --> 00:18:54.890 it. Why? That seems counterintuitive. You'd think 00:18:54.890 --> 00:18:56.970 they would be the most supportive of a pro -indigenous 00:18:56.970 --> 00:19:00.099 move. Identity is a tricky thing, isn't it? For 00:19:00.099 --> 00:19:02.880 those living away for generations in some cases, 00:19:03.079 --> 00:19:05.960 the label Cook Islander is how they define themselves 00:19:05.960 --> 00:19:08.259 in a foreign land. It's the box they check on 00:19:08.259 --> 00:19:10.000 the census. It's the name of their church group, 00:19:10.019 --> 00:19:12.059 their rugby club. It's their brand. It's their 00:19:12.059 --> 00:19:14.789 identity. They felt that changing the name was 00:19:14.789 --> 00:19:17.190 like erasing the label they had built their lives 00:19:17.190 --> 00:19:19.190 and communities around. They felt a sense of 00:19:19.190 --> 00:19:22.190 ownership over the name Cook Islands, maybe even 00:19:22.190 --> 00:19:24.910 more so than the people at home. That is a fascinating 00:19:24.910 --> 00:19:27.130 psychological twist. The people who actually 00:19:27.130 --> 00:19:29.630 live there might want to change it to reflect 00:19:29.630 --> 00:19:33.029 their daily reality and heritage. But the people 00:19:33.029 --> 00:19:36.250 who left are holding on to the name as an anchor 00:19:36.250 --> 00:19:38.710 to that very heritage. Exactly. It highlights 00:19:38.710 --> 00:19:40.589 this incredible tension between the homeland 00:19:40.589 --> 00:19:43.380 and the community abroad. So in the end, they 00:19:43.380 --> 00:19:46.000 reached a compromise. The classic political solution. 00:19:46.259 --> 00:19:48.039 Pretty much. They kept the English name Cook 00:19:48.039 --> 00:19:50.740 Islands. But they are working on adopting a new 00:19:50.740 --> 00:19:54.019 official Maori name to sit alongside it. Currently, 00:19:54.019 --> 00:19:57.119 the Maori name is Kuki Irani. Which is just? 00:19:57.319 --> 00:19:59.559 It's just a transliteration. It's Cook Islands 00:19:59.559 --> 00:20:02.480 spoken with a Maori phonology. It has no deeper 00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:05.430 meaning. They want a proper name that has actual 00:20:05.430 --> 00:20:07.529 cultural resonance, perhaps referring to the 00:20:07.529 --> 00:20:10.609 ocean or the people or historical figure. But 00:20:10.609 --> 00:20:13.390 for now, Cook Islands remains the global brand. 00:20:13.750 --> 00:20:16.329 This tension between the locals and the diaspora, 00:20:16.450 --> 00:20:18.750 and especially the influence of New Zealand, 00:20:18.890 --> 00:20:22.109 is the perfect segue to the politics. Because 00:20:22.109 --> 00:20:23.930 when I try to figure out the political status 00:20:23.930 --> 00:20:27.009 of this country, I got a headache. It is unique. 00:20:27.109 --> 00:20:29.049 It really is one of a kind. Are they independent? 00:20:29.250 --> 00:20:30.950 Are they part of New Zealand? And it seems to 00:20:30.950 --> 00:20:33.920 be both and neither. The answer is yes and no. 00:20:34.259 --> 00:20:37.380 Since 1965, they have been a self -governing 00:20:37.380 --> 00:20:40.400 state in free association with New Zealand. Free 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:42.900 association. Break that down for us. This isn't 00:20:42.900 --> 00:20:46.420 just a colony or a territory like, say, Guam 00:20:46.420 --> 00:20:48.539 is to the U .S. No, it's not a colony. The Cook 00:20:48.539 --> 00:20:50.839 Islands has its own parliament. They have their 00:20:50.839 --> 00:20:53.460 own prime minister, currently Mark Brown. They 00:20:53.460 --> 00:20:56.000 write their own laws. They manage their own budget. 00:20:56.259 --> 00:20:58.900 If the New Zealand parliament passes a law in 00:20:58.900 --> 00:21:01.680 Wellington, it does not apply in Rarotonga unless 00:21:01.680 --> 00:21:04.000 the Cook Islands parliament explicitly chooses 00:21:04.000 --> 00:21:06.380 to adopt it. OK, so they are sovereign in terms 00:21:06.380 --> 00:21:08.339 of internal management. They run their own show 00:21:08.339 --> 00:21:10.680 at home. Correct. But historically, under the 00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:13.180 1965 agreement, New Zealand retained responsibility 00:21:13.180 --> 00:21:16.299 for defense and foreign affairs. The way a parent 00:21:16.299 --> 00:21:18.680 might handle things for an adult child living 00:21:18.680 --> 00:21:21.720 at home. That's a decent analogy, though over 00:21:21.720 --> 00:21:24.819 the decades that has changed significantly. The 00:21:24.819 --> 00:21:27.160 Cook Islands has taken over almost all of its 00:21:27.160 --> 00:21:29.720 own foreign affairs. They sign treaties. They 00:21:29.720 --> 00:21:32.920 establish embassies. So where is the link? What 00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:36.119 is the core of this association? The citizenship. 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:39.119 This is the linchpin. This is the absolute core 00:21:39.119 --> 00:21:41.500 of the relationship. Explain the one -way street. 00:21:41.640 --> 00:21:44.549 I found this fascinating. Every person born in 00:21:44.549 --> 00:21:47.430 the Cook Islands or of Cook Islands descent is 00:21:47.430 --> 00:21:50.730 a New Zealand citizen. They hold a black New 00:21:50.730 --> 00:21:53.630 Zealand passport, period, full stop. That is 00:21:53.630 --> 00:21:55.690 incredibly valuable. It is one of the most powerful 00:21:55.690 --> 00:21:58.549 passports in the world. It means a kid born on 00:21:58.549 --> 00:22:01.230 a tiny atoll in the northern group can grow up, 00:22:01.289 --> 00:22:03.930 fly to Auckland, go to university, get access 00:22:03.930 --> 00:22:06.130 to the New Zealand health care system, get a 00:22:06.130 --> 00:22:07.750 job and live there for the rest of their life 00:22:07.750 --> 00:22:10.069 without ever applying for a visa. It's an automatic 00:22:10.069 --> 00:22:11.839 right. But it doesn't work the other way around. 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:14.119 No. And this is the genius of the arrangement 00:22:14.119 --> 00:22:16.920 for them. A New Zealander born in Christchurch 00:22:16.920 --> 00:22:19.380 is not a Cook Islands national. I thought just 00:22:19.380 --> 00:22:22.160 move there. No. They are treated as foreigners. 00:22:22.319 --> 00:22:24.980 They can't just move to Rarotonga and buy a house 00:22:24.980 --> 00:22:27.480 or a piece of land. They can't vote there. There 00:22:27.480 --> 00:22:30.960 are strict controls on land ownership to ensure 00:22:30.960 --> 00:22:33.980 the small local population isn't bought out by 00:22:33.980 --> 00:22:37.339 wealthy foreigners. That is a sweet deal. You 00:22:37.339 --> 00:22:40.539 get the protection and the immense economic and 00:22:40.539 --> 00:22:43.200 social opportunity of a developed nation, but 00:22:43.200 --> 00:22:45.400 you protect your own sovereignty and land from 00:22:45.400 --> 00:22:47.579 being overwhelmed by them. It is the best of 00:22:47.579 --> 00:22:49.779 both worlds, which is why they guard it so jealously. 00:22:49.920 --> 00:22:52.160 And this explains the weird situation with the 00:22:52.160 --> 00:22:54.700 United Nations. Right. The Cook Islands is not 00:22:54.700 --> 00:22:56.759 a member of the UN, not a full member anyway. 00:22:57.099 --> 00:22:59.119 They are not. They are members of many U .N. 00:22:59.140 --> 00:23:01.440 agencies like the World Health Organization and 00:23:01.440 --> 00:23:03.900 UNESCO. They have what's called treaty -making 00:23:03.900 --> 00:23:06.200 capacity, which is a big deal in international 00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:09.200 law. But they don't have a seat and a vote in 00:23:09.200 --> 00:23:11.160 the General Assembly. Why not? They're a country. 00:23:11.299 --> 00:23:13.559 They act like a country. Because New Zealand 00:23:13.559 --> 00:23:16.000 has quietly warned, and the Cook Islands government 00:23:16.000 --> 00:23:19.019 understands, that full U .N. membership usually 00:23:19.019 --> 00:23:21.799 implies a full, distinct, and separate citizenship. 00:23:22.750 --> 00:23:25.809 The UN Charter is about member states. And if 00:23:25.809 --> 00:23:28.529 they become a fully separate member state, the 00:23:28.529 --> 00:23:30.730 argument for them keeping New Zealand citizenship 00:23:30.730 --> 00:23:33.829 gets much, much weaker. Exactly. New Zealand 00:23:33.829 --> 00:23:35.730 might say, OK, if you want to be totally independent 00:23:35.730 --> 00:23:37.490 on the world stage, that's great. We support 00:23:37.490 --> 00:23:40.049 you. But you need to have your own passport. 00:23:40.230 --> 00:23:42.670 You can't have it both ways. Hand back our passports. 00:23:42.809 --> 00:23:45.920 And for the people. That is a nonstarter. A total 00:23:45.920 --> 00:23:48.859 nonstarter. The ability to live and work in New 00:23:48.859 --> 00:23:51.519 Zealand is the economic and social safety valve 00:23:51.519 --> 00:23:55.039 for the entire country. So the prime minister, 00:23:55.160 --> 00:23:57.579 Mark Brown, recently noted that joining the U 00:23:57.579 --> 00:23:59.779 .N. isn't a priority because it poses a direct 00:23:59.779 --> 00:24:02.700 risk to that citizenship status. It would require 00:24:02.700 --> 00:24:05.339 a referendum and it likely wouldn't pass. They 00:24:05.339 --> 00:24:07.960 are walking a geopolitical tightrope. They want 00:24:07.960 --> 00:24:10.450 to be independent enough. to sign deals with 00:24:10.450 --> 00:24:12.509 the U .S. and China, but dependent enough to 00:24:12.509 --> 00:24:14.430 keep the passports. And they are doing it successfully. 00:24:14.730 --> 00:24:17.789 In 2023, the United States formally recognized 00:24:17.789 --> 00:24:20.609 the Cook Islands as a sovereign state and established 00:24:20.609 --> 00:24:23.509 full diplomatic relations. That was a huge win 00:24:23.509 --> 00:24:26.490 for them. A major validation. It validated their 00:24:26.490 --> 00:24:28.269 sovereignty in the eyes of the world's biggest 00:24:28.269 --> 00:24:30.710 superpower without forcing them to break the 00:24:30.710 --> 00:24:33.529 New Zealand link. It was a masterful piece of 00:24:33.529 --> 00:24:36.759 diplomacy. It's basically saying... We are small, 00:24:36.819 --> 00:24:38.839 but we are complicated, and you have to deal 00:24:38.839 --> 00:24:41.720 with us on our terms. And being complicated and 00:24:41.720 --> 00:24:44.960 sovereign costs money. Running a country costs 00:24:44.960 --> 00:24:48.200 money. Which brings us to the economy. Segment 00:24:48.200 --> 00:24:52.200 four, sun, sea, and secrecy. Let's start with 00:24:52.200 --> 00:24:55.299 the sun, tourism. It's the obvious one. White 00:24:55.299 --> 00:24:58.200 sand beaches. Blue water. It is the engine. It 00:24:58.200 --> 00:25:01.900 accounts for about 67 .5 % of the GDP. Two -thirds 00:25:01.900 --> 00:25:03.700 of every dollar made in that country comes from 00:25:03.700 --> 00:25:06.000 visitors, mostly from New Zealand and Australia. 00:25:06.359 --> 00:25:08.119 It feels incredibly risky. We saw what happened 00:25:08.119 --> 00:25:10.440 during the pandemic. The tap turned off. Overnight, 00:25:10.519 --> 00:25:13.339 zero income. It revealed just how fragile that 00:25:13.339 --> 00:25:16.160 economic monoculture is. And it all relies on 00:25:16.160 --> 00:25:18.420 a single point of failure. Baratanga International 00:25:18.420 --> 00:25:21.440 Airport. If a major cyclone takes up that runway, 00:25:21.539 --> 00:25:24.519 the economy stops. Period. So they need to diversify. 00:25:24.859 --> 00:25:26.900 And this is where things get morally interesting. 00:25:27.079 --> 00:25:29.519 The outline mentions asset protection. This is 00:25:29.519 --> 00:25:31.500 the part of the Cook Islands economy you don't 00:25:31.500 --> 00:25:33.599 see on the postcards with the sunsets. We're 00:25:33.599 --> 00:25:36.779 talking about offshore trusts, a tax haven. Not 00:25:36.779 --> 00:25:38.920 exactly a tax haven in the traditional sense, 00:25:39.019 --> 00:25:42.420 more of a legal fortress. Since 1989, the Cook 00:25:42.420 --> 00:25:44.500 Islands has passed a series of laws designed 00:25:44.500 --> 00:25:46.839 to make it the world's premier jurisdiction for 00:25:46.839 --> 00:25:49.319 asset protection trusts. In plain English, what 00:25:49.319 --> 00:25:52.140 does that mean? It means it is a place to put 00:25:52.140 --> 00:25:57.180 your money where... Lawyers, creditors, and angry 00:25:57.180 --> 00:25:59.900 ex -spouses cannot get it. The New York Times 00:25:59.900 --> 00:26:01.880 had a pretty scathing quote about this. They 00:26:01.880 --> 00:26:04.980 said these laws were devised to thwart the reach 00:26:04.980 --> 00:26:07.799 of American justice. That is not an exaggeration. 00:26:07.839 --> 00:26:09.900 That is literally what they are for. Here is 00:26:09.900 --> 00:26:12.339 how it works. Let's say you are a wealthy doctor 00:26:12.339 --> 00:26:14.339 in California. You are worried about getting 00:26:14.339 --> 00:26:16.660 sued for malpractice in the future. You move 00:26:16.660 --> 00:26:19.119 your life savings into a Cook Islands trust. 00:26:19.599 --> 00:26:23.579 Okay. Then I get sued. A jury in California finds 00:26:23.579 --> 00:26:26.640 against me. The judge says, you owe the plaintiff 00:26:26.640 --> 00:26:30.039 $2 million. Hand it over. You then say, I'd love 00:26:30.039 --> 00:26:32.339 to, Your Honor, but I can't. The money isn't 00:26:32.339 --> 00:26:35.319 mine anymore. It's owned by my trust in the Cook 00:26:35.319 --> 00:26:38.529 Islands. The judge then orders the Cook Islands 00:26:38.529 --> 00:26:41.509 trustee to hand over the money. And the trustee 00:26:41.509 --> 00:26:44.029 says. The Cook Islands trustee says, I'm sorry, 00:26:44.170 --> 00:26:46.789 I can't do that. That court order is from California. 00:26:46.849 --> 00:26:49.430 We don't recognize it here. They even have a 00:26:49.430 --> 00:26:51.970 specific clause in their law called the duress 00:26:51.970 --> 00:26:55.470 clause. If a foreign trustee is ordered by a 00:26:55.470 --> 00:26:58.490 foreign court to hand over money, they are legally 00:26:58.490 --> 00:27:01.509 required by Cook Islands law to ignore that order 00:27:01.509 --> 00:27:03.910 because they are deemed to be acting under duress. 00:27:03.910 --> 00:27:06.130 They just ignore the U .S. court system. Yeah. 00:27:06.160 --> 00:27:08.980 Yes. Under Cook Islands law, foreign judgments 00:27:08.980 --> 00:27:12.079 are generally meaningless. If the person suing 00:27:12.079 --> 00:27:13.579 you wants that money, they have to start all 00:27:13.579 --> 00:27:15.259 over again. They have to fly to the Cook Islands. 00:27:15.380 --> 00:27:17.539 They have to hire a local lawyer. They have to 00:27:17.539 --> 00:27:20.440 file a brand new lawsuit in a Cook Islands court 00:27:20.440 --> 00:27:23.000 under Cook Islands law. Which I assume is expensive 00:27:23.000 --> 00:27:25.500 and difficult. Incredibly. And the standard of 00:27:25.500 --> 00:27:28.759 proof is much higher. In the U .S., for a civil 00:27:28.759 --> 00:27:31.380 case, you just need a preponderance of the evidence, 00:27:31.559 --> 00:27:35.259 you know, 51 % likely. In the Cook Islands, for 00:27:35.259 --> 00:27:37.519 a claim of fraudulent transfer to be successful, 00:27:37.799 --> 00:27:40.380 you need proof beyond a reasonable doubt. That's 00:27:40.380 --> 00:27:42.380 the criminal standard. That is the standard used 00:27:42.380 --> 00:27:44.839 for murder trials. It is nearly impossible to 00:27:44.839 --> 00:27:47.279 win. So it's a fortress. It is a financial fortress. 00:27:47.380 --> 00:27:49.660 And for the Cook Islands government, it's lucrative. 00:27:50.000 --> 00:27:52.420 The fees and taxes from this trust industry make 00:27:52.420 --> 00:27:56.000 up about 8 % of the GDP. 8%. That's significant. 00:27:56.279 --> 00:27:58.180 It's more than they make from selling fishing 00:27:58.180 --> 00:28:01.059 licenses for their entire EEZ. That is wild. 00:28:01.220 --> 00:28:04.819 A tiny island nation effectively monetizing its 00:28:04.819 --> 00:28:07.240 sovereignty by creating a legal black hole for 00:28:07.240 --> 00:28:09.680 the U .S. justice system. It's a niche, a very 00:28:09.680 --> 00:28:11.740 controversial one, but a very profitable one. 00:28:11.859 --> 00:28:14.460 It raises huge questions about global equity 00:28:14.460 --> 00:28:16.660 and justice. But from the Cook Islands perspective, 00:28:17.180 --> 00:28:19.380 they are providing a legal service in a competitive 00:28:19.380 --> 00:28:21.809 global market. But there is another potential 00:28:21.809 --> 00:28:23.730 windfall on the horizon, and this one might be 00:28:23.730 --> 00:28:25.589 even more controversial than the hidden cache. 00:28:26.289 --> 00:28:28.829 Seabed mining. This brings us back to the ocean 00:28:28.829 --> 00:28:33.549 and back to that massive EEZ. The deep seabed 00:28:33.549 --> 00:28:36.329 in the Cook Island zone is in places literally 00:28:36.329 --> 00:28:38.890 paved with polymetallic nodules. They look like 00:28:38.890 --> 00:28:40.789 black potatoes, right? That's what I read. Basically, 00:28:40.789 --> 00:28:43.970 yes. Lumpy potato -sized rocks sitting on the 00:28:43.970 --> 00:28:46.930 sediment thousands of meters down. But inside 00:28:46.930 --> 00:28:49.269 those unassuming lumps are high concentrations 00:28:49.269 --> 00:28:53.170 of cobalt, nickel, copper, and manganese. The 00:28:53.170 --> 00:28:56.029 battery metals. The exact metals the world is 00:28:56.029 --> 00:28:58.509 screaming for. The metals you need for electric 00:28:58.509 --> 00:29:01.430 vehicles, for wind turbines, for the entire green 00:29:01.430 --> 00:29:04.109 transition. The Cook Islands is sitting on a 00:29:04.109 --> 00:29:07.170 gold mine, or rather a cobalt mine of these things. 00:29:07.309 --> 00:29:08.769 And they want to harvest them. They are moving 00:29:08.769 --> 00:29:11.420 forward aggressively. They pass the seabed. Minerals 00:29:11.420 --> 00:29:15.299 Act in 2019. In 2025, they sign exploration agreements 00:29:15.299 --> 00:29:17.920 with both U .S. and Chinese -affiliated companies. 00:29:18.039 --> 00:29:20.079 But hold on. We just spent all this time talking 00:29:20.079 --> 00:29:22.579 about Maramuana, the sacred ocean, the world's 00:29:22.579 --> 00:29:25.019 largest marine park. How do you square we are 00:29:25.019 --> 00:29:27.240 the guardians of the pristine ocean with we are 00:29:27.240 --> 00:29:30.039 going to send massive robotic dredgers to scrape 00:29:30.039 --> 00:29:32.839 the ocean floor? That is the tension. That is 00:29:32.839 --> 00:29:34.880 the core of the debate raging in the country 00:29:34.880 --> 00:29:37.019 right now. It's a contradiction. The government 00:29:37.019 --> 00:29:39.140 argues that it is necessary for their economic 00:29:39.140 --> 00:29:41.920 independence and self -sufficiency. They argue 00:29:41.920 --> 00:29:44.619 that if the world wants green energy, these metals 00:29:44.619 --> 00:29:46.940 have to come from somewhere, and it's better 00:29:46.940 --> 00:29:49.039 to pick them up off the seafloor than to strip 00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:51.680 mine the rainforests of the Congo or Indonesia. 00:29:52.279 --> 00:29:55.940 They call it the blue economy. What do the environmentalists 00:29:55.940 --> 00:29:58.990 and marine biologists say? They say we have absolutely 00:29:58.990 --> 00:30:01.289 no idea what we're doing. We know less about 00:30:01.289 --> 00:30:03.309 the deep ocean floor than we do about the surface 00:30:03.309 --> 00:30:06.250 of Mars. Dredging up those nodules could destroy 00:30:06.250 --> 00:30:08.450 entire ecosystems we haven't even discovered 00:30:08.450 --> 00:30:11.329 yet. It will create huge sediment plumes that 00:30:11.329 --> 00:30:13.789 could drift for miles and choke marine life, 00:30:13.930 --> 00:30:16.549 including things like our expensive peppermint 00:30:16.549 --> 00:30:18.710 angelfish in the Twilight Zone. It feels like 00:30:18.710 --> 00:30:21.569 a massive gamble. They're betting the farm or 00:30:21.569 --> 00:30:24.220 the ocean on this industry. And they are doing 00:30:24.220 --> 00:30:26.859 it because they want to reduce that 67 percent 00:30:26.859 --> 00:30:30.759 dependence on tourism and foreign aid. If the 00:30:30.759 --> 00:30:33.180 mining pays off, the Cook Islands could become 00:30:33.180 --> 00:30:35.460 one of the wealthiest nations per capita in the 00:30:35.460 --> 00:30:38.519 Pacific. If it goes wrong, they could ruin their 00:30:38.519 --> 00:30:41.339 primary natural resource forever. High -stakes 00:30:41.339 --> 00:30:43.799 poker in the South Pacific. Played by a country 00:30:43.799 --> 00:30:46.200 with a resident population smaller than many 00:30:46.200 --> 00:30:47.819 universities. Let's talk about those people. 00:30:47.980 --> 00:30:50.660 Segment five, culture. We've talked about the 00:30:50.660 --> 00:30:52.940 politics and the money, but what about the soul 00:30:52.940 --> 00:30:55.299 of the place? The culture of the Cook Islands 00:30:55.299 --> 00:30:58.240 has gone through massive trauma and, at the same 00:30:58.240 --> 00:31:01.339 time, shown massive resilience. The pivot point 00:31:01.339 --> 00:31:04.460 for everything was the year 1821. Missionary. 00:31:04.500 --> 00:31:06.980 The London Missionary Society, led by a man named 00:31:06.980 --> 00:31:09.440 John Williams. When they arrived, the conversion 00:31:09.440 --> 00:31:12.339 to Christianity was incredibly rapid. It wasn't 00:31:12.339 --> 00:31:14.559 a centuries -long struggle like in some places. 00:31:14.619 --> 00:31:16.500 It happened in decades. And it was thorough. 00:31:17.019 --> 00:31:19.240 Very thorough. And with that conversion came 00:31:19.240 --> 00:31:22.539 a very forceful rejection of the old ways. The 00:31:22.539 --> 00:31:25.140 sources described the mass burning of the idol 00:31:25.140 --> 00:31:28.440 gods or staff gods. These were intricate, massive 00:31:28.440 --> 00:31:30.680 wood carvings that represented the ancestors 00:31:30.680 --> 00:31:33.880 and deities. Some were 20 feet long, carved from 00:31:33.880 --> 00:31:36.019 a single piece of ironwood. They just burned 00:31:36.019 --> 00:31:38.859 them. Entire artistic and spiritual tradition 00:31:38.859 --> 00:31:41.960 up in smoke. Many were burned. Some were burned 00:31:41.960 --> 00:31:44.079 by the missionaries, but many were burned by 00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:46.079 the islanders themselves as a public demonstration 00:31:46.079 --> 00:31:48.990 of their new faith. a few were saved by the missionaries 00:31:48.990 --> 00:31:51.369 and sent back to london as curiosities proof 00:31:51.369 --> 00:31:54.230 of their success in converting the heathens which 00:31:54.230 --> 00:31:57.549 means which means ironically that the best and 00:31:57.549 --> 00:31:59.710 largest collection of traditional cook islands 00:31:59.710 --> 00:32:02.589 religious art is now in the british museum not 00:32:02.589 --> 00:32:06.329 in rarotonga that is a profound almost incalculable 00:32:06.329 --> 00:32:09.420 loss of physical history it is But culture is 00:32:09.420 --> 00:32:11.880 adaptable. It finds new ways to express itself. 00:32:11.980 --> 00:32:14.759 When one door closes, another opens. And this 00:32:14.759 --> 00:32:16.940 brings us to Tevive. I looked up pictures of 00:32:16.940 --> 00:32:19.180 these after reading the notes. They are stunning. 00:32:19.400 --> 00:32:22.400 These are the quilts, right? Yes. Elaborate, 00:32:22.400 --> 00:32:26.049 beautiful patchwork quilts. Quilting isn't originally 00:32:26.049 --> 00:32:28.990 Polynesian. The technique was introduced by the 00:32:28.990 --> 00:32:31.950 wives of the missionaries. They taught the local 00:32:31.950 --> 00:32:36.210 women how to sew patchwork as a civilized pastime. 00:32:36.289 --> 00:32:38.329 But the Cook Island women didn't just copy the 00:32:38.329 --> 00:32:40.910 British floral patterns. No. They completely 00:32:40.910 --> 00:32:43.089 indigenized the art form. They took the needle 00:32:43.089 --> 00:32:45.710 and thread and created something vibrant, bold, 00:32:45.789 --> 00:32:48.509 and deeply Polynesian. The designs are almost 00:32:48.509 --> 00:32:51.130 never geometric like American quilts. They usually 00:32:51.130 --> 00:32:54.109 feature local botany flowers like the tiara mori, 00:32:54.210 --> 00:32:57.769 leaves, sea life, in these incredibly bright, 00:32:57.910 --> 00:33:00.549 high -contrast colors. It's not just about the 00:33:00.549 --> 00:33:02.150 blanket, though, is it? It's about the making 00:33:02.150 --> 00:33:04.410 of it, the process. Correct. That's the most 00:33:04.410 --> 00:33:06.750 important part. Tivive is a communal activity. 00:33:06.890 --> 00:33:08.730 You don't usually make one alone in your room. 00:33:09.579 --> 00:33:12.180 Gather in groups called Venetini. They work together 00:33:12.180 --> 00:33:14.819 on a single quilt. They sing. They gossip. They 00:33:14.819 --> 00:33:16.980 tell stories. They pass on traditions. They teach 00:33:16.980 --> 00:33:19.299 the younger generation. It became the new social 00:33:19.299 --> 00:33:21.700 glue. It became the social fabric of the community. 00:33:22.019 --> 00:33:26.319 I love that image. Taking a tool from the colonizer. 00:33:26.759 --> 00:33:29.099 the sewing needle, and using it to stitch your 00:33:29.099 --> 00:33:31.599 own community tighter together after so much 00:33:31.599 --> 00:33:34.119 was torn apart. It's a beautiful metaphor for 00:33:34.119 --> 00:33:37.140 cultural resilience. And these quilts are high 00:33:37.140 --> 00:33:39.440 -status items. They are treasures. You don't 00:33:39.440 --> 00:33:41.779 just buy them at a souvenir shop. They are gifted 00:33:41.779 --> 00:33:44.480 at weddings, at haircutting ceremonies for young 00:33:44.480 --> 00:33:47.299 boys, at funerals where they drape the casket. 00:33:47.420 --> 00:33:50.319 They wrap the milestones of life. We should mention 00:33:50.319 --> 00:33:52.650 language, too. Because we talked about the diversity 00:33:52.650 --> 00:33:54.589 of the islands, and that's reflected in this 00:33:54.589 --> 00:33:57.309 speech. Absolutely. English is the official language 00:33:57.309 --> 00:33:59.569 of government, but Cook Islands Maori is the 00:33:59.569 --> 00:34:01.980 language of the heart. But even that isn't a 00:34:01.980 --> 00:34:04.400 monolith. Because the islands are so far apart, 00:34:04.680 --> 00:34:07.140 the languages drifted over the centuries of isolation. 00:34:07.619 --> 00:34:10.039 Give me an example. The language spoken on Pukapuka 00:34:10.039 --> 00:34:12.699 in the far north is actually much closer to Samoan 00:34:12.699 --> 00:34:15.380 than it is to the Maori spoken on Rarotonga in 00:34:15.380 --> 00:34:18.239 the south. Really? Yes. It reflects the ancient 00:34:18.239 --> 00:34:22.000 migration paths of the Pacific. Pukakuka is geographically 00:34:22.000 --> 00:34:24.940 closer to Samoa than Rarotonga, so its linguistic 00:34:24.940 --> 00:34:27.099 roots are different. It's a distinct language, 00:34:27.280 --> 00:34:30.340 really. It really drives home just how spread... 00:34:30.380 --> 00:34:32.500 out this country is. It's almost a collection 00:34:32.500 --> 00:34:35.699 of city states or island states bound together 00:34:35.699 --> 00:34:39.340 by a line on a map. And now bound together by 00:34:39.340 --> 00:34:42.619 a diaspora, which brings us to our final and 00:34:42.619 --> 00:34:45.400 perhaps most critical segment, demographics, 00:34:45.940 --> 00:34:48.860 the human equation. We threw out some numbers 00:34:48.860 --> 00:34:50.519 earlier, but I want to drill down on them because 00:34:50.519 --> 00:34:52.500 they're hard to wrap your head around. You said 00:34:52.500 --> 00:34:54.679 there are about 15 ,000 people living in the 00:34:54.679 --> 00:34:57.929 Cook Islands. Roughly, yes. The resident population 00:34:57.929 --> 00:35:00.889 fluctuates, but it hovers around 15 ,000 to 17 00:35:00.889 --> 00:35:03.710 ,000 people. And how many people of Cook Island's 00:35:03.710 --> 00:35:06.690 descent are in New Zealand? The last census had 00:35:06.690 --> 00:35:10.389 it at over 80 ,000. And Australia? Another 28 00:35:10.389 --> 00:35:13.170 ,000, roughly. Okay, let that sink in. For every 00:35:13.170 --> 00:35:15.010 one Cook Islander living in the Cook Islands, 00:35:15.190 --> 00:35:17.090 there are nearly seven or eight living overseas. 00:35:17.610 --> 00:35:20.349 It is a nation turned inside out. The majority 00:35:20.349 --> 00:35:22.610 of the nation lives outside the nation's borders. 00:35:22.769 --> 00:35:24.630 What does that do to a country? To a culture? 00:35:24.969 --> 00:35:28.070 It creates what sociologists call a transnational 00:35:28.070 --> 00:35:31.269 corporation of kin. The nation doesn't end at 00:35:31.269 --> 00:35:34.289 the reef. The real Cook Islands is a network 00:35:34.289 --> 00:35:36.530 that stretches from Rarotonga to Auckland to 00:35:36.530 --> 00:35:41.230 Sydney to Brisbane. Money, people, ideas, culture. 00:35:41.510 --> 00:35:44.210 It all flows back and forth constantly. But it 00:35:44.210 --> 00:35:47.210 creates massive practical problems, surely. If 00:35:47.210 --> 00:35:49.110 all the young working -age people leave for higher 00:35:49.110 --> 00:35:52.190 wages in New Zealand, who runs the country? That 00:35:52.190 --> 00:35:55.159 is the crisis. Depopulation of the outer islands, 00:35:55.280 --> 00:35:57.840 the northern group especially, is severe. Some 00:35:57.840 --> 00:36:00.960 islands have fewer than 50 people left. Who maintains 00:36:00.960 --> 00:36:03.780 the airstrip? Who teaches the school? Who catches 00:36:03.780 --> 00:36:06.300 the rats to protect the birds? It's the brain 00:36:06.300 --> 00:36:09.239 drain on steroids. It is. And it leads to a labor 00:36:09.239 --> 00:36:11.719 shortage in the main economic hub, Rarotonga. 00:36:12.519 --> 00:36:14.719 Paradoxically, the Cook Islands now has to import 00:36:14.719 --> 00:36:17.300 foreign labor from the Philippines from Fiji 00:36:17.300 --> 00:36:19.039 to work in the hotels and service industries 00:36:19.039 --> 00:36:21.460 because the locals who would be doing those jobs 00:36:21.460 --> 00:36:23.599 are working in similar jobs in New Zealand for 00:36:23.599 --> 00:36:25.480 more money. So you have Cook Islanders serving 00:36:25.480 --> 00:36:27.719 coffee in Auckland and Filipinos serving coffee 00:36:27.719 --> 00:36:30.179 in Rarotonga. Globalization in a nutshell. It 00:36:30.179 --> 00:36:33.460 raises a really deep philosophical question about 00:36:33.460 --> 00:36:36.670 what a nation actually is. Is the Cook Islands 00:36:36.670 --> 00:36:40.130 the soil, the rocks, the 236 square kilometers? 00:36:40.329 --> 00:36:42.909 Or is it the people, the gente hermosa, wherever 00:36:42.909 --> 00:36:45.170 they happen to be? That is the existential question 00:36:45.170 --> 00:36:47.690 they're wrestling with every single day. The 00:36:47.690 --> 00:36:49.489 name change debate showed us that the people 00:36:49.489 --> 00:36:52.210 overseas still feel a deep connection in ownership. 00:36:52.670 --> 00:36:54.789 But the people on the ground are the ones keeping 00:36:54.789 --> 00:36:57.210 the lights on and the culture alive in its homeland. 00:36:57.840 --> 00:36:59.860 So let's try to summarize this incredible journey. 00:37:00.059 --> 00:37:02.659 We've gone from sunken volcanoes to high finance 00:37:02.659 --> 00:37:05.619 tax havens. We've seen a tiny nation that acts 00:37:05.619 --> 00:37:08.179 like a global player. A nation that has managed 00:37:08.179 --> 00:37:10.360 to secure the military and diplomatic protection 00:37:10.360 --> 00:37:12.960 of a larger neighbor, New Zealand, while carving 00:37:12.960 --> 00:37:15.340 out its own independent relationships with superpowers 00:37:15.340 --> 00:37:17.960 like the U .S. and China. A truly clever arrangement. 00:37:18.619 --> 00:37:20.500 A nation that declares itself the guardian of 00:37:20.500 --> 00:37:23.059 the world's largest marine park while simultaneously 00:37:23.059 --> 00:37:25.579 preparing to harvest the very minerals that lie 00:37:25.579 --> 00:37:29.099 on its seafloor. A nation of contrasts, of paradoxes, 00:37:29.099 --> 00:37:32.119 tradition and modernity, conservation and exploitation, 00:37:32.579 --> 00:37:35.300 home and away. It really is a balancing act. 00:37:35.460 --> 00:37:37.619 And it feels like the balance is shifting, that 00:37:37.619 --> 00:37:39.519 the ground is moving under their feet. It is. 00:37:39.519 --> 00:37:42.079 And that leads to my final provocative thought 00:37:42.079 --> 00:37:44.880 for you to mull over. Go for it. If you look 00:37:44.880 --> 00:37:47.159 at the trajectory. The diplomatic recognition 00:37:47.159 --> 00:37:50.780 by the U .S., the pursuit of seabed mining revenue, 00:37:51.059 --> 00:37:55.099 the increasingly distinct foreign policy, the 00:37:55.099 --> 00:37:58.039 Cook Islands, is acting more and more like a 00:37:58.039 --> 00:38:01.400 fully independent state. It is, in a way, growing 00:38:01.400 --> 00:38:03.539 up and moving out of the family home. Right. 00:38:03.619 --> 00:38:05.639 They're flexing their sovereign muscles. The 00:38:05.639 --> 00:38:08.659 question is, will the free association model 00:38:08.659 --> 00:38:11.739 eventually break under that pressure? Can a nation 00:38:11.739 --> 00:38:14.960 truly be independent on the global stage, signing 00:38:14.960 --> 00:38:17.320 deals with China and America while its citizens 00:38:17.320 --> 00:38:19.420 pledge allegiance to another country's passport? 00:38:19.719 --> 00:38:22.159 At what point does New Zealand look at this potentially 00:38:22.159 --> 00:38:24.940 wealthy, mining -rich, diplomatically active 00:38:24.940 --> 00:38:27.059 nation and say, OK, you're doing great, we're 00:38:27.059 --> 00:38:29.360 proud of you, but you can't have our passports 00:38:29.360 --> 00:38:31.699 anymore. It's time to have your own. That is 00:38:31.699 --> 00:38:34.929 the $64 million question. If they succeed too 00:38:34.929 --> 00:38:37.289 much at being independent, they might lose the 00:38:37.289 --> 00:38:39.309 very safety net that allowed them to succeed 00:38:39.309 --> 00:38:42.730 in the first place. Exactly. Is the current situation 00:38:42.730 --> 00:38:45.550 a permanent, clever loophole in the international 00:38:45.550 --> 00:38:48.710 system? Or is it just a transition phase toward 00:38:48.710 --> 00:38:51.690 full, complete separation and a Cook Islands 00:38:51.690 --> 00:38:55.449 passport? Only time and maybe the price of cobalt 00:38:55.449 --> 00:38:58.949 will tell. Indeed. While you ponder the geopolitical 00:38:58.949 --> 00:39:01.070 future of the Pacific, I have two homework assignments 00:39:01.070 --> 00:39:04.630 for you. First, go to your search engine of choice 00:39:04.630 --> 00:39:08.510 and look up Tevevi quilts. The colors are incredible. 00:39:08.590 --> 00:39:10.510 They will brighten up your day. They really are 00:39:10.510 --> 00:39:13.090 works of art. Truly beautiful. And second, look 00:39:13.090 --> 00:39:15.949 up the peppermint angelfish. Don't look at the 00:39:15.949 --> 00:39:17.610 price tag if you're thinking about starting an 00:39:17.610 --> 00:39:20.510 aquarium. Stick to goldfish. Much more affordable. 00:39:21.250 --> 00:39:23.090 Thanks for listening to this deep dive. We'll 00:39:23.090 --> 00:39:23.849 catch you on the next one.