In 2021 Laamu Atoll was designated a Mission Blue Hope Spot as a unique area which has been scientifically identified as critical to the health of our oceans. In 2023, through Mission Blue, a grant application process opened to support the work being done in Hope Spot areas. The team worked hard to put together a proposal for an expedition to explore the less accessible north of Laamu Atoll, conduct outreach sessions with schools, and connect with the communities on northern islands.

After hearing the fantastic news that the grant application had been successful the team started the planning phase by selecting candidates to join the expedition, planning research activities and reaching out to Laamu’s communities. With many months of planning the team were excited to set off on the 21st April with a team of 12 individuals from the Maldives Underwater Initiative including Six Senses Laamu, Olive Ridley Project, Manta Trust, Maldives Resilient Reefs/Blue Marine Foundation, as well as Secret Paradise, Mundoo Council, Maavah Council, the Environmental Protection Agency and Mundoo Community.

Over the 10 days on the liveaboard, the team collected data on; sea turtle abundance and distribution, illegal harvest pressure on local turtle populations, coral health and bleaching severity, potential areas of importance to manta populations, ecosystem health at MPA sites, and marine megafauna abundance and distribution.

A key part of the expedition was the involvement from Laamus communities, this was done both through school outreach sessions and by inviting 3 members of Laamu’s community to join the expedition team. During the expedition, ten different training sessions were organized with the members of Laamu’s community. This included megafauna ID, turtle rescue training, and coral bleaching monitoring. The aim of this is to equip the participants with the knowledge and resources to conduct citizen science surveys on their own island and to support any monitoring interests there may be.

The team also conducted 4 school outreach sessions with the islands of Kalaidhoo, Mundoo, Maabaidhoo, and Maavah. During these sessions the team shared exciting insights into marine life in Laamu Atoll, created posters designed to inspire people to make a change, and tested the students' knowledge with fun quizzes.

After the completion of the expedition a full report is being prepared with some of the key findings from the expedition which will then be shared with communities and councils from the relevant islands of the Atoll.

Some of our early results point at a few key findings already.

Manta Rays

Manta ray feeding observations from the North of the Atoll have confirmed previous reports of this being a manta ray feeding hotspot during certain seasons. Oceanic manta rays are very rarely sighted in Laamu and during this expedition the team had two oceanic manta ray encounters, highlighting the North East of the Atoll as an area where Ocean Mantas will travel past. The team was able to conduct one fisher interview which will add on to the Manta Trust’s effort of recording local ecological knowledge on manta rays. Additional interviews with teachers of Laamu for a Master’s research project have been incredibly helpful to investigate the feasibility of running an online marine education programme in Laamu.

Turtles

Photo-ID data was collected from 26 hawksbill turtles and 17 green turtles across 20 dive and snorkel surveys during the expedition. Island surveys were conducted on 16 uninhabited islands, which included all the islands along the northern atoll wall from Maabaidhoo to Maavah, to document evidence of historical and illegal sea turtle harvest activity. Sea turtle remains were only found on three islands, and the team recorded remains from an estimated 46 individuals, most of which were from Kashi Guraidhoo island - a known site of historic and ongoing sea turtle harvest in the atoll. Nesting activity was observed on two islands near the Vadinolhu and Munyafushi channel.

Coral Bleaching

Bleaching severity tended to be more severe in the inside of the Atoll vs the outside of the Atoll, this is likely due to increased water flow and cooler currents coming from deeper waters. It also appeared as though the North Eastern edge of the Atoll has a slightly higher bleaching severity that the North Western edge of the Atoll which could reflect the direction at which warmer currents are traveling or perhaps that there have been higher temperature fluctuations of the Western edge of the Atoll leading to slightly higher temperature resilience in those populations.

All of the reefs surveyed in Laamu have some level of bleaching, and there are areas which are already seeing death of colonies as a result. However, there are reefs within Laamu which are seeing a much lower severity and may withstand the ongoing bleaching event.

Part of this expedition also involved locating some of Laamus largest coral colonies as part of the Maldives wide “Map the Giants” project.

Marine Protected Area Surveys

The MPA surveys will contribute to long-term data sets and reporting of the health of Laamu’s MPAs. The analysis for these surveys will be conducted jointly by MRR and students from Exeter University in the UK. In-water observations from the team highlighted the bleaching impacting the MPA locations with differing severities. During the MPA surveys the team was lucky enough to encounter several manta rays (including potentially one new individual), sea turtles, and even a whale shark cruising past! This whale shark may have never been recorded in the Maldives before and we are waiting for confirmation from the Maldives Whale Shark Research Project!

Megafauna

During each dive and snorkel the expedition members recorded all encounters with marine megafauna, including sharks, rays, turtles and large groupers. This data contributes to our understanding of how different species use habitats in Laamu and can help us to highlight areas of particular abundance and diversity. Some of our initial findings suggest that in the North East Outer Reefs there were fewer reef associated species, such as hawksbill turtles, and more pelagic species, such as Oceanic Manta Rays. Some sites displayed particular abundance and diversity, such as Maabaidhoo Inside, where the team encountered ten different species of megafauna, including 10 Mangrove Rays!

LAAMU HOPE SPOT EXPEDITION