Fishing Industry in The Maldives - Prospects

Prospects

Factors which have contributed to increasing catches of fish include an increasing number of mechanised and motorised boats, installation of fish aggregating devices which improve the efficiency of fishing activities, and improvements in infrastructure for collecting and handling the fish catch. Of the pelagic species, skipjack tuna has been almost exclusively exploited. The pelagic fisheries may have considerable expansion potential, especially further from the coast, targeting species such as yellowfin. Demersal and reef species can also be exploited at higher levels. At present, development is limited by limited local facilities for storing and transporting fish.

Future prospects are partly a matter of the quality of fisheries research and management. Research is coordinated and carried out by the government run Marine Research Centre. The FAO Bay of Bengal Programme is exploring the reef and tuna fish, and facilitating a fisheries management system. The United Kingdom is helping investigations into the recovey of coral reefs, the status of tuna stocks, and possibilities for coral mining and further fish marketing. Canada is helping research into coral reefs and the implementation of marine surveillance facilities.