Promotion of Blue Economy in the Fisheries Sector in the Maldives

The fisheries sector in the Maldives is an important industry, accounting for more than 90% of the country’s total exports, and is expected to play a vital role in the recovery from the economic damage caused by COVID-19 as a source of foreign currency. On the other hand, tuna and skipjack tuna, the main catch of the Maldives, are being overfished in the Indian Ocean by European purse seiners and other vessels. In the future, the Maldives needs to add more value to its catch by improving quality and promoting secondary processing, without increasing the catch. To address this situation in the country’s fisheries sector, JICA implemented a development survey-type technical cooperation project, “Project for the Formulation of Master Plan for Sustainable Fisheries in the Maldives” (MASPLAN) from 2014 to 2017, and supported to develop of a Fisheries Sector Development Plan, which identified strategies and approaches for the sustainable and efficient utilization of fishery resources and the necessary activities. As the outcome of this, the “Sustainable Fisheries Development Plan of the Important Sub-sectors in the Maldives 2016-2025 - Goals, Objectives and Projects- “(SFDPIS), which was submitted in August 2017, was formally approved by the Government in August 2019 as a policy document for the country. SFDPIS embodies the vision and strategy of the Blue Economy, which is one of the main policies of the Maldives Strategic Action Plan (SAP (2019-2023)). This project is positioned as a JICA technical cooperation project to implement the contents of this SFDPIS, based on the request of the Maldivian Government.

·         Purposeoftheproject:Economic foundation of the fisheries sector in the Maldives is strengthened based on the blue economy principles and through the implementation of the Sustainable Fisheries Development Plan of the Important sub-sector in the Maldives SFDPIS.

·         ProjectGoal:Resiliency & sustainability of the fisheries sector is improved through the implementation of the Sustainable Fisheries Development Plan of the Important sub-sector in the Maldives (SFDPIS).