History is being made as marine biologist Shafiya Naeem and Farah Amjad become the first from the Maldives to descend deep into the twilight zone as the lead aquanauts on the maiden dive of the Nekton Maldives Mission.
apmultimedianewsroom
Everyone around the world knows the Maldives for its natural beauty above and underwater. Marketing its brand around natural beauty, in recent times the Maldives has made its mark among the diving community as well with the introduction of different excursions aimed at diving into shark points and giving people an opportunity to dive into the beautiful waters of the Maldives in order to discover the true beauty that cannot be captured with a camera.
However, over the years, the Maldives has become one of the nations that could be the victim of climate change as the average height of the country of coral beaches is around 1.2 meters above sea level, and the highest point in the entire nation is just under 2.4 meters. This makes the Maldives an easy target for rising sea levels, as many fear this beautiful paradise may be lost to climate change.
While this in itself is a big issue, the sea levels are not the only concern when it comes to climate change and the Maldives - as the Maldivian waters is one of the most threatened parts of the Indian Ocean and there is little to no information regarding what lies beyond 30 meters of the Maldivian ocean.
In recent years a lot of effort has been put into taking climate change as a more serious concern at all levels in the Maldives. With programs ongoing for public awareness, policy changes on the Government level as well as pushing for the public to adapt to a more sustainable lifestyle have been underway, especially since the start of 2022.
And while a lot of these works surround protecting the environment above the ocean, the Maldivians have a lot that they need to protect underwater as well ─ as the livelihood of the people heavily depend on the marine life for both food and income.
Two of the biggest threats to the low-lying nation in recent times have been storm surges as well as coral bleaching: both of which are caused due to rising temperatures. A marine research team formed by the Government Maldives Marine Research Institute has been looking into coral bleaching in the Maldives for years now, an event which occurred when corals which act as natural sea defences are literally boiled to death by rising sea temperatures, sparked by global warming.
In order to combat and learn more about this issue, a web-enabled coral database was formulated with the support of the Climate Adaptation Program (CAP) and the Government of the Maldives, EU and Australia in November 2013. This database allows marine biologists, divers, educators and other institutes to report the coral bleaching events observed across the Maldives. This database was strongly supported by several organisations, resorts as well as academic institutions.
The aquanaut's historic maiden dive
While the establishment of the coral bleaching database was a significant step forward, we are unaware of a joint initiative expedition launched by UK-based Nekton and the Maldives on September 11th, 2022, to learn more about the severity of the issue as well as any other issues that may arise as a result of climate change.
The dive is being conducted with the goal of mapping, sampling, and gathering data on ocean health down to 1000 meters in order to inform policymakers in the Maldives and other nations as the climate crisis worsens over time.
This is no ordinary deep-water dive, however, as history is being made as marine biologist Shafiya Naeem, Director General of the Maldives Marine Research Institute, and Research Assistant colleague Farah Amjad become the first people from the world’s lowest-lying nation to descend deep into the twilight zone as the lead aquanauts on the maiden dive of the Nekton Maldives Mission. In addition to this, there are no virtual images of marine life that exist beyond 30 meters in the Maldivian oceans, this will be the first time any footage will be uncovered beyond the depths that we are familiar with.
With the dive having started on the 11 September 2022 on the east coast of Laamu Atoll, the two Maldivian aquanauts along with the pilot Kimly Do, will survey from 60 meters beneath the surface to the twilight zone at 250 meters at the launching of the dive yesterday.
With the aquanauts raising the Maldivian national flag as the vessel emerged from the ocean after their first dive in this expedition, everyone above water is eagerly waiting to discover what maricultural gems are hidden in the undiscovered depths of the Maldivian oceans!
