Laamu Atoll Local Ecological Knowledge Surveys
September 2022
Laamu atoll in the Maldives is pristine; there is limited tourism and much of the underwater world is both unexplored and unresearched. The Manta Trust is based at Six Senses resort in Laamu, and despite having researched manta rays in the atoll for 8 years, there are still many gaps in their data, yet due to the logistical challenges of researching the marine world around numerous islands, long-term widespread data can be difficult to attain.
On the contrary, local communities, especially fishers, gain more frequent access to the remote areas which are less accessible to researchers, and additionally, fishers spend more time out in the ocean. It is crucial to understand and determine the local communities’ knowledge as it can be valuable data for gaining a better understanding of manta rays.
Jinaad interviewing a fisher. ©Hannah Cocks
The team meeting with Laamu atoll council members. ©Hannah Cocks
From April to June 2022 the Manta Trust Laamu team and Hannah Cocks, an MSc Marine Environmental Management student from the University of Exeter, visited every inhabited island in Laamu to gain local ecological knowledge from fishers and boat captains about manta ray abundance, seasonality, and potential threats, through semi-structured interviews. They visited all the 11 islands of Laamu atoll, and fishers, boat captains, and seafarers told fascinating stories about the manta ray encounters they have experienced over the years. Alongside the surveys, the team also conducted presentations to the community and council members on each island about the research that Manta Trust conducts, and their long terms goals for the atoll.
Jinaad presenting Manta Trust research to island communities. ©Hannah Cocks
The Manta Trust team presenting the data at the Maldives Marine Science Symposium. ©Kaitlyn Zerr
All the islands were incredibly hospitable, many of which were enthusiastic to show the team their reefs and take them out on boat trips to potential manta aggregation areas. The Manta Trust even got invites for future research collaborations, so the trip laid down the foundations for future community work in the atoll. On this survey trip, they were able to conduct survey interviews with more than 140 individuals. The most interesting highlights of the survey include the 96% of the people we questioned think manta rays should be protected, many of the people who think manta rays should be protected consider it to have a huge relation with tourism, and people associate manta rays with the abundance of bait fisheries in the area.
The team presenting to Isdhoo Council.
The Manta Trust Laamu team were super excited to present the results of the local ecological knowledge surveys conducted in Laamu this year at the 4th Maldives Marine Science Symposium, in a poster presentation. The event was a great opportunity for the team to publicise this research and discuss the potential for this project in other areas in the Maldives, with marine scientists at the event. The results will be published in a report on the Manta Trust website next month, so stay tuned for the release!
ALI JINAAD
MMRP Team - Laamu Atoll