Shark Fisheries Banned in the Maldives

The Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture has imposed a ban on shark fisheries from all the atolls of the Maldives. The ban will be on all shark fisheries within a 12 nautical mile radius. Previously the ban was on imposed on 7 atolls. This is good move after tremendous efforts by various parties and individuals. 

Juvenile Black-Tip Reef Shark fished in Baa Atoll                (Photo: Shaff)

The Ministry has set a target of one year to ban all shark fisheries including oceanic sharks and the export of all shark products. The permanent secretary of the Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture said that "The fishery law clearly tells us that we can protect any marine species if we feel that it's threatened or endangered for any reason. We have taken very strong action against the protection of sharks simply because they were protected worldwide and are very important for tourism."

Juvenile Black-Tip Reef Sharks fished in Baa Atoll         (Photos: Shaff)

It will be a difficult task to enforce the ban, but the ministry says that the responsibility to enforce will have to be shared by the atoll offices, the police and the ministry.

An attempted finning on a live Whale Shark in Ari Atoll      (Photo: Mohamed Faizan Waheed)

According to the Secretary General of Maldives Association of Tourism Industry (MATI), the effect of the ban on the tourism industry would be 'tremendous' as 30 percent of the tourists visit the Maldives for it's underwater life and in addition to Manta Rays, Sharks would be their number one priority.

A Grey Reef Shark at Maaya Thila, Ari Atoll     (Photo: Shaff)

Save The Sharks

A Reef Shark caught in a net

Maldives...where divers come to see the amazing underwater life. Especially to see the Sharks. This photo was taken near the island of Gaafaru in North Male' Atoll. We saw this as we were going up to the surface after videoing and photographing the wreck 'Erlengen'.

Please help protect the Sharks of the Maldives.

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Maldives - By Nikhil Chinapa

I’d been itching to do it for a while. It’s just one of those things that gets into your head and doesn’t get out. I started to dream about it and began to have guilty thoughts. I even told my wife about it.. and that I had to do it – she didn’t seem to mind. In fact, she said I should go ahead and get it out of my system.

I needed to go diving.

It had been over 6 months since my last scuba dive – my 49th … and I needed to get the @#$% out of Bombay and head to the Maldives. My friend and dive buddy Shaff had been talking to me about doing a dive safari – seven days on a boat with the boys – and all we did was dive.. I was sold; bought my tickets and dug out my scuba gear.

“Sunny Maldives” , I thought to myself; with a song in my heart as I boarded my flight in Mumbai, switching off my cellphone for a week and forgetting about things like television, newspapers and the internet.

Except someone in the Maldives forgot to order the sun. I landed to overcast skies, a drizzle and feeling silly that I hadn’t carried anything warm. It sounds like a bad joke – “carry something warm to the Maldives in March” – but there you have it… nature’s having the last laugh at my expense.

Still, I’m met at the airport by my buddy Shaff, transfer to a speedboat and head to Male to pick up another friend – Riya. We pack in Riya, half a dozen fire extinguishers, and a large roll of serious looking rope that looked like it could anchor a battleship.
In half an hour we rendezvous with the Atoll Cruiser, my home for a week in the Maldives. There’s already a group of 15 Italian divers on board and we’ve just added to the party.

Manta Madness

Manta rays during the mating period last year. Rough edit and no colour corrections made on this video. Hope you enjoyed watching this.

Aqua Dreams Imaging Launches it's online blog

Aqua Dreams Imaging Private Limited is a production company incorporated in the Maldives with the aim of capturing and documenting marine life, culture and the heritage of the Maldives. Aqua Dreams Imaging has a young but efficient and qualified team of divers, photographers and cameramen to achieve this goal. Although the company is new, in the few months of its existence we have already embarked on several underwater filming projects for major companies as well as individuals.

Aqua Dreams Imaging have a state of the art video production studio in Male’, the capital of the Maldives and employ the latest cutting-edge equipment in the field.

Our cameramen are based on the live-aboard ‘Atoll Cruiser’, filming and documenting daily marine life from various dive sites all across the Maldives.