Discovery of an Island - Clipperton Island History. The Passion of the Environment for Tourism. Clipperton Island is under direct authority of the French Government and is a full part of the European Union. However, it is exempt from the Schengen Area and therefore citizens from outside France need a permit to visit Clipperton Island. It can be obtained from the French High Commission in French Polynesia. Despite that, unless a French Navy patrol visits the island, there are obviously no officials on the island to check permits. Under the shade of the palm trees that grow on the edge of an unusual lagoon and of a sea that is painted with marine life that resembles that another planet, in a place where the wind converts what is calm into movement and where rats eat crabs, it is difficult to imagine that in a remote time Clipperton island was once a desert of sea and sand in the middle of the Pacific Ocean; a perfectly balanced eco-system, home to a vast number of birds and tropical fish perfectly integrated in a mosaic of life