A Loss Of Support For The Maldives Shark Sanctuary

Some scientists define co-existence as a balance or a negotiated compromise between humans and wildlife on how to exist together. But what happens when targets for protecting predatory species fail to consider the human costs of conservation? That is what scientist Dr. Danielle Robinson from the School of Natural and Environmental Sciences at Newcastle University (Australia) is looking at as she sees a decline in support for the Maldives shark sanctuary from reef fishers whose livelihoods are affected by shark depredation.

The Maldives – comprised of 1,192 islands – are located in the Indian Ocean, spanning across the equator and covering an area of approximately 90,000 square kilometers. Home to about five percent of the planet’s reefs, the explosion of colorful structures is home to thousands of fish species, including large pelagic fishes such as manta rays and whale sharks. Back in 2010, the Maldives declared its exclusive economic zone (EEZ), 90,000 square kilometers of the Indian Ocean, as a shark sanctuary to protect these species – and the other 30 species that call those waters home. This meant the entire area did not allow for shark fishing; the island nation also banned all imports and exports of shark fins. “The Maldives were one of the first countries to recognize that sharks were a key reason tourists went to dive there,” said Matt Rand, director of Global Shark Conservation for the Pew Environment Group that day. “[This] announcement protects the Maldives’ tourism industry – the largest segment of their economy – from the ravages of the shark fin trade. It is a bold and farsighted move on the part of the government of the Maldives.”

At the time, the move was largely supported. Things were looking bad for sharks back then and are even more dire today; the most recent global IUCN Red List of Threatened Species assessment of sharks estimated that over one third of species are threatened with extinction (i.e. considered Critically Endangered, Endangered, or Vulnerable). The conservation of sharks and their ecosystems is not a “one size fits all” type of problem, so shark sanctuaries have their own specific regulations in place that vary depending on the specific aims of the sanctuary’s implementation. “Shark sanctuaries have typically been declared in small island nations, including the tropical Pacific, Caribbean, and Maldives where dependence on marine resources is high and capacity for enforcement limited,” the authors of this new paper explain. Part of the reason why the Maldives declared a shark sanctuary was because fishers were reporting declines in shark catch – of all the world’s shark sanctuaries, the Maldives had the highest shark catch rate per kilometers square between 1950 and 2010 – and in recognition of the economic importance of shark-dive tourism.

While many understood the reasons behind the ban, they also struggled with being stripped of an integral part to Maldivian identity: fishing. It employs about twenty percent of the country’s population (around 17,589 fishers) and accounts for over eighty percent of Maldivian exports, valued at around $160 USD million annually. By talking with the local fishers, Robinson and her team aimed to understand how they interacted with sharks, their perceptions of the animals, and their varying degrees of support (or lack of it) for sanctuary regulations. Between January and April 2019, 103 fishers in North Malé (n = 66) and Dhaalu Atoll (n = 37) were interviewed, pointing out 10 sites where they frequently had shark encounters in Dhaalu Atoll; the team set out baited remote underwater video cameras (BRUVs) to quantify reef shark abundance here. “Fishers and sharks are competing for the same thing – fish – and I think a really exciting aspect of this study is that we were able to collect spatial data from fisher interviews and underwater cameras (BRUVS) at the same spatial scale to map areas with high conflict potential,” says Robinson.

Published in the journal Conservation Letters, the interviewed fishers largely said that the increasing shark populations thanks to the implemented sanctuary have increased shark depredation (when a shark partially or completely consumes a fisher’s catch before it can be brought back to the boat) and substantial catch and income losses (>21%). Those experiencing greater losses due to depredation showed reduced support for the Maldives shark sanctuary, as well. Through the use of the underwater camera stations (BRUVs), the team identified areas where shark abundance is high and conflict hotspots where sharks and fishing activity overlap.

In order to avoid negative consequences for fisher welfare and shark population recovery, Robinson believes shark depredation must be managed sensitively: “The study highlights the importance of more inclusive approaches to help us understand and manage depredation conflicts. Research and conservation frameworks tend to focus on commercial fisheries due to their economic value, yet our findings highlight the urgent need to consider and manage negative perceptions of small-scale fisheries when developing policy solutions.”