Why the world’s most fertile fishing ground is facing a ‘unique and dire’ threat

China's Pacific fishing fleet has grown by 500% since 2012 and is taking huge quantities of tuna

• Read more of our Pacific Plunder series here

Since long before the steel-hulled fishing boats from foreign countries arrived in the South Pacific its people have had their own systems for sharing the ocean's catches.

In the New Zealand colony of Tokelau, in the middle of the region, the 1,400 people living on its three atolls practise a system called inati, which ensures every household gets fish.