Longline fishing for tuna will remain closed in the Maldives, the island country’s president announced on Aug. 29. The decision came after local fishers, conservation NGOs and scientists protested against plans by the administration of President Mohamed Muizzu to reopen longline fisheries for yellowfin tuna and bigeye tuna. Longline fishing has been banned in the Maldives since 2019.

“I am quite relieved by the decision and hope that the Government will uphold it,” Shaha Hashim, chairperson of conservation NGO Maldives Resilient Reefs, told Mongabay over a message. “This decision will not only safeguard the livelihoods of fishers and the tourism industry but also protect our marine biodiversity.”

Fishers in the Maldives have traditionally used pole-and-line fishing to catch tuna like skipjack (Katsuwonus pelamis) and yellowfin (Thunnus albacares). But since 1985, the Maldivian government has alternated between allowing and restricting longline fishing to increase catches of yellowfin and bigeye tuna (Thunnus obesus). Longline fishing involves placing a long horizontal drag line that can stretch for kilometers, with thousands of baited hooks suspended in the water for several hours.

“While they are very good at catching tuna, they also catch and inflict immense collateral damage, entangling and drowning seabirds, turtles, manta rays, sharks, many of them endangered,” Callum Roberts, a marine conservation biologist with the University of Exeter, U.K., told Mongabay.

Source: Maldives drops plan to reopen longline tuna fishing following protests – Conservation news