Peter Lorenzo, left, walks to a boat that brought supplies, as Jefferson Nestor, a state legislator with Hatohobei State, takes pictures of the bridled tern on Helen Island, Palau, before ...

I was sitting in a 16-foot skiff with Governor Thomas Patris of the state of Hatohobei, Palau, anchored over Helen Reef. While the governor talked about a new agreement his community has made with ...

Palau, an archipelago of hundreds of islands, has only about 20,000 people, and Hatohobei state — which includes Helen Island and Helen Reef — has only a few dozen people.

Peter Lorenzo, left, walks to a boat that brought supplies, as Jefferson Nestor, a state legislator with Hatohobei State, takes pictures of the bridled tern on Helen Island, Palau, before ...