President Of Maldives Visits The Nekton Mission Team In Laamu

Tuesday 13th of September 2022

Yesterday, President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih paid a surprise visit to the Nekton Mission aboard the RV Odyssey now sailing in Laamu Atoll. He made the visit to extend his support to the marine scientists as they collect vital data about the depths of the Indian Ocean.

The President was greeted by four Maldivian aquanauts onboard who have descended into 500m under the surface in the past two days. The President was informed about the fact that no charts of the Maldivian deep exist below 30m and was shown recently collected data during his visit.

The data collected is being mapped and analyzed by Nekton marine biologists at the moment. The president was accompanied by cabinet ministers, Minister of Fisheries, Marine Resources & Agriculture, Dr. Hussain Rasheed Hassan and Minister of Environment, Climate Change & Technology, Aminath Shauna.

While speaking on the occasion, Minister of Fisheries, Marine Resources & Agriculture, Dr. Hussain Rasheed Hassan said “The results we get, the species we see, the underwater features of the Maldives and the historical level of land in those years are critical things”.

Nekton Maldives Mission will conduct the first ever systematic survey and sampling of the Maldives from 1000metre depths to the surface. The mission is initiated by joint collaboration of UK Marine Research Institute, Nekton and the Government of the Maldives. All data collected during the mission will be vested with the Government of Maldives.