In the remote coastal communities of the Southern Philippines, illegal economies are tearing into one of the world's most endangered marine ecosystems. On Palawan Island, former fisherman Efren Balladeres leads a volunteer group called PARA Enforcers, patrolling the waters to confront illegal fishing crews that feed a cross-border wildlife smuggling network stretching toward Malaysia. In the impoverished town of Pinut-an in southern Leyte, most working-age men have abandoned fishing, since there are no fish left, for subaquatic gold mining, free-diving as deep as 60 feet into underwater tunnel systems carved into the seabed, risking cave-ins and drowning for a handful of ore. Further south, in Tawi Tawi near the Malaysian border, Marines and maritime police try to police an archipelago too porous and vast to fully control. The film moves between these three fronts, using handheld camera work in cramped mining tunnels, patrol boats, and interviews with divers, enforcers, and traffickers to show how poverty and weak governance push people into an underworld built on the sea's remaining riches.