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> there is the opposing rule of having the duty to help people in distress at sea.

That's all I've ever heard as well. Perhaps the amount of pirates/refugees/drug-runners in those waters around Belize has turned that on its head?

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This is a dichotomy that appears across sailing cultures and territories, certainly not unique to Belize or the modern era. The law/rule is made because a) it is often extremely risky to stop and help a stranded vessel for the same reason b) the stranded vessel has little recourse if no one stops to help. If no one helps, the vessel may be doomed. But if you help and the vessel turns out to be pirates (or just so desperate the sailors turn into pirates to save themselves), then you become the stranded one. The solution some governing organizations take is to remove the choice and mandate sailors subject to its jurisdiction stop and help. This is beneficial on a community scale even if potentially fatal in any individual instance. Of course the challenge remains of if we are all alone at sea, how will anyone know back home we didn't stop?

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