End To Shark Fishing Ban In Maldives Would Be Dangerous

In a role reversal to the film Jaws, local businesses and resorts in the Maldives are pleading for authorities not to start up shark fishing again.

In a world where once it would have been deemed dangerous to not catch sharks in the ocean to save a local economy, now the very opposite is true.

It's a cry that shows just how far people have come in their perception of sharks and how they know they are an integral part of our ecosystem and to retain balance in our oceans.

The denouncement comes after the Maldives’ government announced plans to discuss the legalisation of shark fishing for profit, after it has been banned for 11 years.

Those dissenting voices include over 100 international and local stakeholders, including resorts and non-governmental organisations.

Together, they have strongly urged the authorities not to lift the shark fishing ban, asking authorities to focus on the fragility of the current balance of nature in the Maldives.

Reminding them, that as a nation of 99% water and 1% land, the health of the ocean is vital for its survival.

It's all about 'summer dollars' as the Minister of Fisheries, Marine Resources and Agriculture, says that the lifting of the shark fishing ban "presents a profitable revenue-generation strategy for the state."

However, a dead shark is not as profitable as an alive one (as correctly mentioned in Jaws 3D of all things), which makes no sense when the country has tourism as its main income source. An income source that will surely need all the help it can get post Covid?

Researchers at James Cook University in 2009 estimated that a single grey reef shark was worth $3,300 to tourism in The Maldives, and just $32 fished. That makes a lot of sense.

No doubt tourism chiefs will be keen to point out that The Maldives, as you know means friendship...unless you are a shark that is.

You can help by signing the following petition, urging The Maldives to uphold their ban on shark fishing: SIGN PETITION HERE

Words Dean Newman

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