MALDIVES RESILIENT REEFS: CHAMPIONS OF SUSTAINABLE OCEAN PRACTICES
The warm waters of the Maldives bring over a million tourists to the country each year. Our reefs are bountiful with vast amounts of fish which are sought after by our visitors and international markets. Megafauna like dolphins, whales, sharks, rays and turtles are abundant in this tropical sanctuary in the middle of the vast Indian Ocean, but for those that have visited or follow our blogs and social media you will understand that life underwater is not perfect and the Maldives faces many challenges.
Positioned on the front line, Maldives Resilient Reefs (MRR) is a Maldivian NGO working to restore coral reefs in the Maldives as climate resilient ecosystems for the benefit of people, nature and the economies that depend on them. MRR was registered as a Maldivian NGO in 2020, having previously worked as part of a project of Blue Marine Foundation from 2016. The decision to register as an NGO came about as MRR felt it necessary to have Maldivians organisations and people at the center of conservation efforts in the Maldives in order to leave a lasting legacy.
Over the past 4 years MRR’s team has grown, and they have six passionate and extremely dedicated young Maldivians working on an increasing portfolio of projects which are also supported by Blue Marine Foundation’s units based in the UK.
Secret Paradise first became involved with MMR when they launched their 2019 #ProtectMaldivesSeagrass campaign with Six Senses, Laamu. This campaign led to receiving commitment from 25% of Maldives resorts not to remove their seagrass meadows and for seagrasses to be reflected in national policy. Their research on groupers led to new minimum size limits. Their 2020 #FishForTomorrow campaign was key in getting public buy-in for the protection of parrotfish and the 2021 Maldives #SaveOurSharks Alliance was a powerful voice for the continued protection of sharks in Maldivian waters. These successes show that there is reason to be hopeful.
MRR’s overall aim is to support the protection of 30% of Maldives ocean from all destructive activities and to sustainably manage the remaining waters. To do this they focus their work on four areas that they feel are important to foster climate resilient reefs in the Maldives. We asked Shaha Hashim, Programme Manager, to share more on these four key areas.
Supporting the creation and effectiveness of MPAs
Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are one of the best tools for restoring healthy oceans because if an area is effectively protected, the fish stocks and marine life recover over time, fish get bigger, start reproducing more and move out of the protected areas to fishing zones which creates a spill-over effect.
MPAs are also big tourist attractions which can support the neighbouring communities and businesses. But of course, this needs to be done right. MPAs need to be placed in the right places, be of the right size, have the support of the communities and they need to be able to benefit them. Most importantly, sufficient protections need to be
given which are properly enforced, in order for us to reap the max benefits.
Supporting the sustainable use of the ocean by supporting a just transition to sustainable fishing
Our Maldivian forefathers didn’t have to actively work on conserving and regenerating biodiversity because their fishing impact was low. However, today, with new markets, new technologies and bigger and faster fishing vessels, we are removing fish stocks at unprecedented levels.
Reef fish were not commercially exploited in the Maldives prior to the introduction of tourism in the 1970s. Today, it remains the biggest market for reef fish in the Maldives, but not much is known about the fishery because the fishery is poorly documented and therefore not fully understood.
A study conducted in the 1990s estimated the annual maximum sustainable yield of our reef fish stock to be around 30,000 metric tonnes. In 2014, it was estimated that we were removing between 18-23,000 metric tonnes that year. In the 10 years since then, the number of tourist beds have increased exponentially so there is a high probability that we are removing far more fish from the reefs than they can be naturally replenished. Fishing on reefs not only depletes biodiversity, but reduces the resilience of reefs to warming waters. There is much that needs to be done to improve the sustainability of the reef fishing sector to ensure there are sufficient policies in place and to implement and enforce these policies.
Supporting the tourism industry to move towards more sustainable models of tourism
The tourism industry had been the driver of many conservation successes in the Maldives such as the ban on coral mining and the protection of megafauna, both of which support the biodiversity that draws tourists to the
Maldives in the first place. While this is definitely progress, there is still much that needs to be done by the industry to safeguard the nature that their very businesses depend on. These include not destroying the marine ecosystems in the first place, managing fisheries more sustainably and having more responsible wildlife interactions.
Strengthening local capacities in marine conservation
The most important thing in marine conservation is having the support and participation of the local communities in conservation efforts. I think that’s the missing link in the current way we are implementing management interventions. Being such a geographically dispersed country, it’s impossible to manage our oceans centrally. So some of the management responsibilities need to be decentralized to the atoll/ island level. To do that we need to strengthen local capacities to be able to fulfill the required functions.
To support this final focus, Maldives Resilient Reefs and the Blue Marine Foundation launched Masmahaa Veshi, an e-learning hub aimed at increasing marine literacy among Maldivians. The modules available in both Dhivehi and English are free of charge and are designed to to raise awareness about the biggest issues facing Maldives oceans and how those issues can be tackled. By increasing marine literacy, the project hopes to inspire more people to become stewards of the ocean and contribute to its conservation.
Do you want to explore coral reefs, meet their inhabitants and learn how you can help protect precious marine habitats? Then dive right into Masmahaa Veshi here!
