I do recall that the former president Gayyoom did a lot of air miles going round the world informing the international community about the environmental vulnerability of the Maldives. At home it’s a different story. His administration was quietly cooking up Hulhumale’ and Thilafushi among other smaller ‘incidents’ that were allowed to happen, such as the octopus of Reethi Rah and the umpteen island harbours which are now contributing to undermine the natural defenses of many islands.

And now, president Nasheed invests time and energy to produce the biggest stunt so far to put Maldives on the ‘climate vulnerable’ map and commits to going carbon neutral. All this is eye candy to the international news media.

So what has long line fishing to do with climate vulnerability?
Not a lot perhaps.

The point being that politicians are full of meaningless talk that sometimes impresses the international community and especially the media. It is indeed a huge ego-trip. At home, their complete disregard towards actual action on the so-called ‘environment friendly’ nation’s environment friendly commitments are usually seen and felt by the locals.

If Marks and Spencers has any corporate integrity as a supplier of tuna which has been caught using dolphin friendly methods, then they should stay well clear of the Maldives if this indiscriminate long line fishing method is adopted here.

At this rate, by the time we become ‘carbon neutral’, there won’t be any marine life left in our seas !!!

In the Maldives, as is often the case elsewhere, politicians rarely walk the talk.

Access to cheap ice and reasonable interest to boat owners in repaying the commercial loans would defiantly be a big relief to the fishermen. This is a fact and none would dispute to this.

Fishing vessels normally owned by our fishermen are not appropriate for long-lining for tuna, and you need big vessels. How could average fishermen build big vessels for long-lining for tuna when most fishermen find difficult to repay loans for their smaller vessels presently.

I don’t think there is enough evidence to back a lot of these claims, and some of the concerns such as labor relations can be regulated. But before calling for a complete ban on line-fishing, a proper cost-benefit analysis needs to be done.

I am not for line fishing and am all about the environment. But from an economic perspective: what the hell are you going to do to increase productivity of the fishing industry? Maldives has very low productivity overall. We do not have a lot of local industries, and they aren’t diverse either- due to a lot of factors such as access to markets, an incredibly unskilled and small labor force etc. We need economic development, and sometimes that has to be at the expense of the environment, unfortunately.

Always appreciate Bluepeace’s dedication to environmental topics, carry on!