MALDIVIAN
FISHERIES
The Maldives is a tuna fishing nation and Maldivian people historically rarely ate reef fish. However, since the arrival of tourism in the Maldives in the 1970s, exploitation of reef fish for tourists to eat and recreationally fish has increased drastically. In 1972, only two resorts existed in the country. Today, there are more than 140 resorts, 458 guest houses as well as numerous safari boats and plans to double resort numbers over the coming years. Despite this, there is no national management plan for this fishery, and it remains almost completely unreported and unregulated. BLUE believes that fishing of coral reef fish to cater to tourism is one of the biggest threats to Maldivian coral reefs.
The Maldives also exports some of its reef resources to other countries. Sea cucumbers and groupers, an important group of coral reef fish, are exported to Hong Kong and Taiwan where they are highly valued for their taste while beautiful reef fish are exported to Europe and America where they are traded as pets for aquarium tanks.
Improving management of reef resources within the Maldives is crucial for the preservation of Maldivian coral reefs. Without healthy fish populations these reefs will lose their resilience to future climatic events as well as their capacity to support the people and economies who depend on them.
CREATING LOCAL
SUSTAINABLE MARKETS
Blue Marine Foundation (BLUE) has worked with Six Senses Laamu to create the first sustainable resort reef fishery model. The ‘Laamaseelu Maveriya’ program, meaning ‘exemplary fishermen’ in the local language Dhivehi, aims to incentivize the small-scale artisanal fishers who supply their catch to Six Senses Laamu to fish in a sustainable manner.
Eleven fishers have signed up to follow a responsible fisher code of conduct, which sets out a list of terms for membership. The code stipulates that fishers must record their catch, only fish using handline and target mature semi-pelagic and pelagic species which are less vulnerable to fishing pressure. The main purpose of this program is to facilitate an open dialogue between Six Senses Laamu and its fishers and to develop a fishing model which rewards sustainable fishing. The goal of the program is to ensure that the resorts operations are not negatively impacting Laamu’s reefs.
It is crucial that resorts and guest houses in the Maldives create a sustainable market for reef fish. Tourism operators must work collaboratively with the Maldivian fishermen they source from to promote low impact fishing to secure a future for the Maldives and their business. BLUE together with Six Senses Laamu wants to set an example for the Maldivian tourism industry by developing this program. We want to kickstart a movement across the country and convince other resorts to join us in the fight to protect Maldivian reefs.
IMPROVING GROUPER
FISHERY MANAGEMENT
BLUE first partnered with Six Senses Laamu in 2016 to help the Maldivian government manage the commercial export grouper fishery. Groupers are a type of predatory fish found on coral reefs that play a vital role in maintaining ecosystem balance, are a favorite sighting for divers but are also unfortunately a popular food fish in Asia. Many fishermen in the Maldives target them for export to Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Groupers have a magnificent reproductive strategy whereby they come together en masse in hundreds and sometimes thousands to breed in one place in what is known as a spawning aggregation. Unfortunately, they aggregate at the same place and same time each month which makes them easy targets for fishermen. BLUE spoke to more than 100 fishermen on Laamu Atoll and dived across the atoll to identify these areas so that they could secure their protection. They identified ten areas where they aggregate on Laamu Atoll. One of these has now been scientifically validated as a spawning aggregation site and provides the focal point for BLUE’s work to create a locally-managed marine protected area.
It’s crucial that these breeding areas are protected from fishing. BLUE found that due to overfishing, these areas are now only shadows of their former glory. Fishermen recalled scenes of a sea once black with groupers “stacked on top of one another” only 30 years ago. Groupers on Laamu Atoll have been so overexploited that fishermen can no longer catch many any more and make a living from fishing them. BLUE’s research provided clear justification for protection of these sites which have been shown to recover when fully protected from fishing in many other countries.
BLUE’s grouper project also sought to validate size at maturity lengths for highly targeted grouper species. Their measurements for two species, the camouflage grouper (Epinephelus polyphekadion; 40 cm)and squaretail coral grouper (Plectropomus areolatus; 42 cm), found that in both cases the size at maturity is nearly double the current size limits. This means fish are being taken before they’ve had a chance to reproduce, leading to recruitment overfishing. BLUE is working at the national level to revise size limits for groupers.
ABOUT
BLUE MARINE FOUNDATION
Blue Marine Foundation (BLUE) is a charity dedicated to restoring the ocean to health by addressing overfishing, one of the world’s biggest environmental problems. Their vision is a healthy ocean forever, for everyone.
BLUE’s vision for the Maldives is an environmentally and economically sustainable island nation, resilient to climate change, productive for fishermen and attractive to tourists. BLUE’s model aims to demonstrate that effective conservation in the interests of all is possible in Maldives with the support of multiple stakeholders: Private sector, government, NGOs and the local community.
