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20 September 2004
By Mohamed Shafiu, Evening Weekly Maldives
Tourism in Maldives has developed rapidly
since the foundation of the industry was
laid back in 1972. Historically, fishing
has been the chief occupation of the country.
However, during the last few decades, the
growth in the tourism industry has outpaced
fisheries by increasing the share of tourism
in the GDP.
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Fishing
has to be developed alongside tourism |
This growth in tourism has benefited the
country in view of the fact that it has
provided a form of livelihood for a sizeable
portion of the population. However, economists
argue that there are disadvantages for
a country of heavily depending on tourism.
According to experts, the industry is vulnerable
to the exogenous shocks and therefore another
alternative industry must be developed
along with the tourism industry. For instance,
the Sept 11 attacks on the United States
caused a decline in the occupancy in Maldivian
resorts. If such an incident happens in
any part of the world, the economy of Maldives
is bound to be threatened severely as a
result of over-dependency on tourism.
According to statistics, the share of
fisheries in the year 2001 was 6% and the
share slightly increased to 7% in 2002.
Now fisheries shares 10% of GDP while tourism
shares 30%.
The fishing industry was relatively recently
privatized whereas tourism industry was
opened to the private sector since the
inception. For Maldives to remain in full
economic progress, both these sectors of
the economy should be given importance
equally.
A lot of young people going to work in
resorts should not result in a lack of
young people going into the fishing industry.
If courses are offered in the fields of
tourism and hospitality, higher education
opportunities in the fisheries sector must
also be provided. Research and development
is important in order to expand fish-related
products being produced by Maldives.
Recently, 11 new islands were set aside
for resort development. However, there
are issues that should be taken into consideration
while developing resorts in fisheries zones.
Firstly, this might hold back the fishing
industry if human resources are transferred
to tourism as has happened in some islands
of Male atoll. Some islands in Male atoll
and Ari atoll were fishing communities,
but the opening of resorts in the vicinity
of these islands made the islanders leave
fishing and join the labor force at resorts.
Some of the dhonies that were used in fishing
were transformed into safaris or ferries
and the fishing industry experienced a
lack of personnel. This scenario might
again become true in the atolls such as
Gaafu Alifu and Gaafu Dhaalu which are
currently great fishing atolls.
There is much scope for the improvement
of the fishing industry. Fishing can be
developed in many ways as it is sustainable.
The privatization of the fisheries industry
is a right step taken by the government
in this regard. Privatization has already
brought some developments to the fishing
industry. Recently the Big Fish factory
was opened in Himmafushi island in Male
atoll. This is a privately run factory
certified by EU in Maldives. The exports
of Big Fish are sold in the supermarkets
of European countries. Likewise there are
many such companies which can either produce
fish products or export chilled tuna. Dealing
with exports of such tuna products are
advantageous because tuna are not vulnerable
to the diseases such as bird flu or mad
cow disease that have come to be associated
with meat such as chicken and beef.
To date, many private parties have started
buying fish in the newly established fishing
zones of the Maldives.
Albeit tuna fishing is sustainable in
Maldives, reef fishing is not done in a
way that the stocks of fish can last long.
Maldives fishermen do not use purse seines
and other types of nets in open water fishing
or reef fishing. However, if the same species
of fish is caught more often, this might
lead to the exploitation of some species
of fish. Over-fishing is particularly hazardous
for species such as groupers as identified
by the local environmental NGO Bluepeace.
There is fear among fishermen because existing
stocks of groupers are dwindling, according
to Bluepeace.
Environmentally, tourism is also related
to fisheries as underwater beauty and marine
resources play an important role in bringing
tourists to the Maldives. Moreover, in
marine ecological terms, extinction of
one species means the death of another.
Even corals, which make a reef, depend
on other life organisms for their survival.
Sea cucumbers and some species of turtles
are now hardly found in Maldivian waters
because the stocks of these species might
have been exploited for commercial purposes.
If the underwater beauty of Maldives is
affected due to an ecological disaster
caused by exploitation of certain species,
it will affect the tourism of the country.
For example the decreasing number of groupers
in Maldivian waters might distort the food
chains and other ecological relationships,
and this not only will destroy the coral
reef gardens but affect fisheries as well
as fishing in Maldives is done using bait
fish. Moreover, the country is dependent
on coral reefs for the maintenance of their
land area, food export earnings and foreign
currency. Therefore, it is very important
to protect the endangered species both
for the existence of our two major economic
pillars, tourism and fisheries.
The average annual catch of tuna by Maldivian
fishermen is 140,000 metric tones and this
share is between 15 to 20 percent of tuna
caught in the Indian Ocean. The other countries’ catches
are proportionately more in number. This
might be because of the super seines they
use in the fishing. Maldives, from its
long of history of fishing, carries out
a more responsible and sustainable form
of fisheries -- the pole and line fishing,
which is environmentally, and dolphin friendly,
too.
Fishing has gone through a pace of rapid
development after the sail dhonies were
mechanized. The catch substantially has
increased but not the types of products
produced from fish.
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