On Concerns Around Potential Amendments to the Shark Ban in the Maldives asiangeo.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from asiangeo.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Marine scientist Callum Roberts took to Twitter to call the potential legalisation a terrible retrograde .
It would be a terrible retrograde move to reopen shark fishing in the Maldives just when the fruits of its success in protecting and conserving sharks have become wonderfully apparent. https://t.co/b4rwhI32AH Callum Roberts (@ProfCallum) March 25, 2021
Indian scuba diver Kanika Mohan Saxena said that it would be dangerous and said this law should not be passed .
This is recipe for distaste .Killing sharks will cause imbalance to the eco system . What is wrong with these people . They are hell bent to end the world . Messing with ecological balance is dangerous & this law should not be passed Kanika Mohan Saxena (@2kanika saxena) April 5, 2021
Maldives Government Responds To Anti-Shark Killing Activists
Maldives government this week responded to
activists’ concerns that the country’s fisheries ministry is contemplating legalizing the killing of sharks in its waters, saying that’s in no way the case.
In a
Maldives Fishery Ministry said:
“It has come to our attention that there are concerns regarding recent statements made by the Minister of Fisheries, Marine Resources and Agriculture, Zaha Waheed in the Committee on Economic Affairs of the Peoples Majlis. The Ministry wishes to clarify that her statement relating to amendments to the ban was made in relation to discussions on re-instating longline fishery targeting bigeye tuna and the discussions that had taken place internally at a technical level within the Ministry concerning the potential bycatch of sharks in the longline fishery, including management of this bycatch. In no way were these discussions focused on lifting the ban on shark fishery.”
PADI meets with Maldivian Ministry to confirm protection of sharks
Published 1 hour ago
®, and the dive industry at large, were instrumental in establishing these protections over a decade ago.
With concern for the continued protection of sharks in the Maldives, the PADI organisation and Project AWARE
®, along with 200 concerned local and international stakeholders opposing the lifting of the shark fishing ban, called on the government to continue to enforce the legal protections of sharks. PADI staff met with Maldivian Ministry of Fisheries, Marine Resources, and Agriculture Zaha Waheed to reinforce the position of the dive community and critical role sharks play in dive tourism.