On a desert island far from Paldea, where no Wooper has ever set foot, a brown flag marked with crossbone gills still flies to mark the spot of buried treasure. Yet the use of Wooper in this context came naturally to the rogue Paldeans who crewed this ship, for these pokemon have long been renowned for river piracy.
A group of Wooper atop a slowly plodding Clodsire may be cute and charming, but these highly energetic pokemon require large amounts of food. Historically, these pokemon were pack scavengers, notorious for seizing fish from anyone, including humans, who sought to cross their aquatic homes. Wooper venom is not particularly toxic, but it is fast-acting and tends to loosen one's grip; the goal is not to kill, but to make their opponent drop their food and allow these pokemon to feast. Unlike Quagsire, whose ignorance to boats poses an ironic threat to shipping lanes into the present day, Paldean Wooper and Clodsire were quick to learn that human vessels invariably had provisions on board. Complaints about Wooper derailing expeditions by stealing supply barges date back to antiquity.
In this day and age, tourists are more than sufficient to meet Wooper's needs, for the species has grown immensely in international popularity with the rise of mass media. It is fortunate for everyone that they do so, for the shift from river barges to trucks left Paldean rivers with precious little to steal. For a few brief years during that transition (and more recently, whenever disease or disaster kept tourists away) Clodsire were forced to venture inland to topple trucks with their spikes, but these pokemon lack the aptitude as highwaymen which they possessed as pirates; many Wooper surely went hungry, and many foodless trucks were impaled.
Come to Paldea and feed the Wooper!