Being a Maldivian and as a worker in country's largest fish processing factory, i believe i owe and explanation to the viewers and the comment readers to avoid any misunderstandings about the unsustainable fishing methods and for refinement of general information about this industry. Thanks to our ancestors, this all started from our ancestors who played immense role in upbringing this safest method of fishing and instilling it in modern fishing techniques. Our ancestors had great but tough time establishing the current fishing method we Maldivians has adopted today. During that era, there were no suitable fishing vessels to wander offshore nor appropriate equipment to catch and process fish. They used small wooden boats barely made for few people to arm and these boats had no engines to propel it through sea. They used sails and oars for locomotion and traditional fishing gears like bamboo rods and steel hooks.The lack of proper fishing gear made it more complicated for them but hats off to those brave folks for the hard strive and making it second most revenue producing industry in the country. To attract the bait, they used oil lamps as the main source of light. It was later when small electric bulbs were used to attract bait when technology started instilling in to the industry. Unlike the fishermen today, our ancestors usually retreat at wee hours for fishing. They move few miles away from the closest island and catch as many fish the boat can hold and return to home before sunset. However, today things are much different and technology had made it more comfortable and trouble-free. Most of the fishing vessels are constructed with Fiberglass and are specially designed for improved speed and capacity. Each vessel can hold about 20-40 people on board and it is equipped with cutting edge technological gears like Radar Systems, GPS, Fish Finders, Vessel Locators and Communication systems. Most of the fishing vessels are well constructed with well furnished accommodation and entertaining utilities. Today the fishermen departure at twilight and anchor the boat close to shallow areas of the ocean. They wait for few hours for the right moment to come to attract the bait. During this time, they enjoy meals and keep entertained. Some prefer taking naps like the one seen in video. When the right moment comes, they lower dozens of very powerful lamps at the sea which would attract plankton following small bait which they catch by using nets. The bait is kept alive by continuously circulating the seawater. When dawn breaks they head to the open waters and search for activities of fish. These are usually identified by the movement of birds which gather and feed on small baits surfaced on water due to turbulence caused to the shoals of fish by predators beneath the ocean. Some vessels use binoculars and fish finders to identify the fish activities. This is considered as a good fortune and the fishing vessels are moved closer to the school of fish. Each vessel consists of specialists to carryout certain activities. The bait thrower ('En Keyolhu- Maldivian Name) takes handful of live baits and throws them into the school of fish while other members are ready with fishing poles. When the school of fish is gathered near the vessel (Dhoani-Maldivian Name), they lower the poles directly in to the school of fish and catch one by one. While they fish, jets of water is sprayed from back of vessel just to simulate the bait resulting in gathered school of fish beneath the vessel which does not tend to leave the feast. The brave fishermen put all their effort in making it more in count, after all more fish means more money. The general amount of catch during the peak season is about 10-50 Metric Tonnes of fish for each individual fishing vessel. The lower seasons tend to give 1-5 tonnes per day. The caught fish is then gathered and stored in chilled seawater compartments. The water is usually cooled by using blocks of ice. Some vessels are equipped with on board refrigeration systems which makes it easy to preserve the fish for longer time and these vessels usually wanders off for days without returning back to sell the fish. Other vessels would generally return to the processing centers by the end of the day to weight and sell the load. This is the only method we Maldivian use to catch fish. It's been continuing since the forefathers and what only changed is the technology but the method till remains the same. Our fish processing centers are highly sophisticated and certified. MIFCO ( Maldives Industrial Fisheries Company) is the country's main fish processing company operated by government and is run under certain certifications and protocols. These centers buy fish from fishermen. They clean, process and store the fish in cold rooms where it is kept frozen until needed to export to various countries across the globe. The comments seems too lengthy now for readers. If anyone wants to know more about anything, pls feel free to DM me. Thank You :-)
I also joined a fishing trip, but on a small boat. Just made a video for fun, and then it was broadcasted on National TV for fisherman's day :) Same experience but so much different. Are you working in the Felivaru factory?
Loved your videos.. so happy that people like you are coming to our country and showing the world how we do it.. and those aren't mantas.. those are mobula Rays, they are very similar, but small in size.. And i would love to invite you back to my homeland to go fishing with me.. on my dads boat.. i will give you a tour on everything.. 🫶🤍
Such lovely and clean fishing boat! I'd really love to experience a journey like yours, at least once, if not for my seasickness. As an engine technician, while most of the time my job is on land, occasionally we receive a call from sea vessel. And I can tell you that working in a cramped engine room while the ship rolling 3 dimensionally due to waves (especially when mooring) is not really pleasant experience, especially if you have weak stomach like me..
You should make a video on yellow fin tuna fishing in the Maldives, the way Maldivians do it is really environment friendly and also the catch is really good. By the way great video and lots of love from Maldives ❤️👍❤️🤟❤️.
Praise the lord, Who feed the whales it can eat 3tons fish in single time ⌚, there are infinity whales in the world 🗺, Who protected us in the mother womb in dark for 🕘 9 months and brought to the light, give us outstanding features like sight, hearing, smelling, thinking, and much more than our duty is to thank him alone, And we are fighting for little worldly affairs, I think I have given examples of whales which eat 3tons a time he is feeding them, You are best of beings, Put your trust on him, Don't enjoin, please do take care, service to human is service to God, ✌️ peace ✌️, Be Blessed, 👋
Definitely not reef sharks. Those are silky sharks (giveaway is the long pectoral fins), which often follow the dhonis. Also, those were not manta rays feeding at night - they were devil or mobula rays. Close cousins of the manta but super quick! FAD fishing is a tricky one - there are sustainable ways of doing it. However, there is zero net-based fishing of tuna in the Maldives EEZ. The majority of the pole and line fishing vessels actually use FADs - there are a couple hundred of these anchored in the waters around the atolls They attract the tuna shoals and, unless the fishers can find free-swimming skipjack tuna, they will target their fishing trip nearby to one of these FADs. The world of sustainable tuna fishing is, indeed, confusing. But there are many sustainable ways - not just pole and line. Hope Bart was happy with your work!
