Project Shark: Maldives

We dived at South Ari atoll, where we were very fortunate to encounter several manta rays dancing around so gracefully at their cleaning stations. They seemed very curious and came in close to our group, which of course meant the photographers amongst us took some lovely shots! On one dive we happened across a whale shark, which was just beautiful. I’ve never had the honour of diving with one of these creatures before and it was truly amazing.

The next stop was the channels of Felidhu and Meemu; here the currents ranged from mild, to what the dive guides called “oh my gosh”. The early morning dives were the best here; there were more sharks than you could shake a stick at!! Grey reef sharks, white and black tip reef sharks, silvertips…we certainly weren’t short of entertainment! It was a remarkable sight, especially given the worrying status of shark populations worldwide.

Throughout the week, I gave four presentations which discussed sharks and rays in the Maldives, shark and ray biology, threats to shark and ray populations, and global conservation efforts. The presentations were a lot of fun – I had a fantastic audience and it was great to be able to share my knowledge on a subject about which I am very passionate.

I have just finished going through some of the photos we took and, thanks to the resources provided by the Manta Trust, have managed to identify all the mantas we saw! We had the privilege of diving with Rabbit, Roxy, Reject, Snoozer, Spliff and Rat-Fink. The Manta Trust will be adding these photos to their Maldivian Manta Ray Project database, which helps towards learning the movements and behaviour of these mantas – important in aiding implementation of conservation management practices for these wonderful animals.

If you want to experience more sharks than you can shake a stick at and contribute to vital research, join me on the next Project Shark: Maldives adventure on the 28th February 2014!