The "Maldives Billfish Fishery Management Plan" is the main guiding principle for managing the billfish fishery in the Maldives. This plan will apply to all activities that affect the billfish population in the Maldives. This includes catching, processing, storing, buying, selling, and exporting billfish products from the Maldives. The plan will also apply to the places involved in and related to these activities.
This management plan is formulated under Article 18 of the Maldives Fisheries Act, and is the plan for organizing, operating, and managing the fishery as stated in Article 17(a)(4) of the Act.
Main objectives of the plan:
To establish robust measures for managing the billfish fishery in the Maldives, and to ensure these measures are aligned with the standards set by regional organizations involved in organizing, operating, and managing fisheries of which the Maldives is a member;
To establish an arrangement for organizing and operating the billfish fishery, to manage the billfish fishery responsibly, and to ensure the benefits of this fishery are provided to the Maldivian people for the long term; and
To guide state institutions and all stakeholders involved in the sustainable development of the billfish fishery and trade.
The species managed under this plan include all species of billfish caught in the Maldives, including the species listed below, as well as other marine life caught, hooked, or taken in the fishery targeting these species, excluding the targeted species themselves.
Black marlin
Blue marlin
Striped marlin
Under this plan, it has been decided to license the vessels engaged in the billfish fishery and the parties active in processing billfish for commercial purposes, in order to monitor the billfish fishery and fishery trade activities through a robust system. Furthermore, it has been decided to take necessary measures to manage the billfish stock if such a situation arises. The measures decided to be taken in this regard include prohibiting the catching of billfish from a specific area and prohibiting the catching or processing of a specific species. The plan also includes establishing and implementing a quota for exported billfish species, and taking other measures related to activities that may affect the billfish stock.
This plan came into effect in December 2020. With the implementation of this plan, it is prohibited to catch billfish that are less than 60 centimeters from the lower jaw to the fork of the tail.
