Marine Biology & Sustainability Newsletter BLUESix Senses Laamu & 1 GREEN LAAMU Marine Biology & Sustainability Newsletter January 2021

This month, Six Senses Laamu Marine Biologists received a permit to further their research in coral spawning. They will be looking into species such as this one captured by Jen Penner. Marine Biology & Sustainability Newsletter Marine Biology & Sustainability Newsletter Six Senses Laamu 2 Six Senses Laamu 3

NEW YEAR, NEW JUNIOR MARINE APPROVAL FOR NEW CORAL BIOLOGISTS The New Year has started with a bang SPAWNING RESEARCH for our Junior Marine Biology Program. We had a record number of 19 children The Six Senses Laamu team are excited to announce participating in the program throughout a new project starting in February. The team recently the month, completing 29 classes. received a Research Permit with the approval to further their coral spawning research in Laamu. Previously Fifteen graduated as full ‘Junior Marine the team have only been using visual observations Biologists’ and 11 completed additional during snorkel surveys to determine when different specialties, such as Identification. species of coral spawn. With the new research permit, Congratulations to “Lewis” who completed we can now investigate the development of gametes, 11 classes, so far, the most accomplished which will give a much more accurate idea of when the Junior Marine Biologist of the entire corals will be ready to spawn. The study will be done in program. What a sen-sea-tional month! collaboration with coral spawning experts based at the Horniman Museum and Gardens in the U.K. Check out next month’s Blue & Green Laamu to see how we get on with the first month of data collection and how we do it! MEGAFAUNA ENCOUNTERS

This month was a great kick start for MUI guest activities, with the team leading 1,013 guests on activities. In collaboration with Deep Blue Divers, the team lead 167 megafauna surveys, as every dive or snorkel from the resort is an opportunity for the teams to collect data on the larger marine animals within Laamu Atoll.

For January alone, we recorded 329 turtle In January the MUI team hosted 1,013 guests through their sightings, 381 ray sightings and 751 activities, which was 23% of the guests staying at the resort. sightings! We will continue to monitoring megafauna sightings throughout the year to compare the results to the last full year An average of 11 megafauna were sighted on each of the of study in 2019. This will help us identify long term trends in the populations of these 167 dives and snorkels, including 751 , 381 rays and animals. 329 turtles. Marine Biology & Sustainability Newsletter Marine Biology & Sustainability Newsletter Six Senses Laamu 4 Six Senses Laamu 5

Fisheries management plans have recently been accorded recognition within the legislative framework of Maldives under the NEW RULES AGREED TO SAVE THE new Act passed in September 2019. Until now, there were only two fisheries THREATENED GROUPER STOCKS with management plans in the country – livebait and grouper. The new plan comes This year started with some very good news alongside other new plans for reef for the groupers in the Maldives. Groupers are fish, billfish, lobster, sea cucumber, marine vital for reef health; however, their stock has aquarium fish and diamondback squid. been declining in the Maldives for the past 40 years. This threatened fish family, will now have BLUE would like to thank the partners of additional safeguards under the new Grouper our ‘Grouper Fishery and Management’ Fishery Management Plan, including revised size project (2016-17); Six Senses Laamu, Laamu limits for the four most heavily targeted species: Atoll Council and UN’s Low Emission Climate Resilient Development Programme • Brown marbled grouper (60cm) (LECReD) and the interns who helped us • Camouflage grouper (40cm) with the grouper maturity studies. • Squaretail coral grouper (40cm) • Roving coral grouper (42cm)

The new size limits, based on the data collected by the Maldives Marine Research Institute (MMRI) and Blue Marine Foundation (BLUE), are crucial UNDERSTANDING RESOURCE to give Maldivian groupers a fighting chance to reproduce and replenish their populations. USE IN LAAMU ATOLL

Additional measures have also been introduced to Community participation and buy-in is an regulate gear and destructive fishing practices, essential component of functional marine including a total ban on the use of pressurized air and reserves. BLUE is one step closer to assist the torches in association with guns. Use of to local community of Laamu to design their target spawning aggregations have also been banned. marine reserve network. During December and January our team and six interns from Shaha Hashim, Maldives Project Manager at BLUE, the Maldives National University (MNU) said: “Spawning aggregations are the sole opportunity travelled to 10 inhabited islands in the atoll to for groupers to reproduce. These spawning sites find out who are using what areas for what can be quickly eradicated due to fishing pressure, purposes. More than 200 interviews have now and once gone, they are not known to recover. been completed and we have one more island Fishermen from across Maldives have reported that left to cover before we start writing our report. some aggregations have already disappeared. While Stay tuned for some fascinating insights into it is encouraging to see the timeframe extension of the resource use of Laamu Atoll! the five sites previously protected on paper, there is an urgent need to effectively protect at least one spawning site from each atoll of Maldives, if we are serious about managing our wild grouper stocks.” Marine Biology & Sustainability Newsletter Marine Biology & Sustainability Newsletter Six Senses Laamu 6 Six Senses Laamu 7

reported at one time, which guests were SURPRISE thrilled to observe from the boat and we were really excited to see the photos and videos from SURFACE FEEDING this trip. In the early months of recent years, we have been receiving reports of surface feeding mantas around this area specifically MANTAS so we plan to monitor this area more closely. In January, hosts and guests who joined on early The Manta Trust is hugely reliant upon JUNIOR MANTA morning fishing trips encountered surface feeding information from , resort staff and mantas around Kurethi, one of the local cleaning guests to help identify potential new RESEARCHERS stations around Laamu. As many as 6 mantas were feeding and aggregation hotspots in Laamu.

At the start of 2021, the Junior Marine Biology program was in full swing. Seven children joined Manta Trust researchers to take part in the manta specialty module where they learnt about the biology and ecology of manta rays, and the different aspects MANTA of research that are utilized by the Manta Trust team. They were excited to know more about our Stereo ENTANGLEMENT Video Photography (SVP) system in which two GoPro cameras are calibrated to measure the width PROTOCOLS of manta rays, in order to track their growth rate over time. They were also enthusiastic to know more about Remote Underwater Videography (RUV) methods, in We were heartbroken to learn about the which underwater cameras are left recording next to death of one of the identified Maldivian manta cleaning stations over multiple days to record mantas, Tambourine (M2801), who was found their presence and behavior when divers cannot entangled in a mooring line in Lhaviyani atoll. physically being there. Worryingly, this followed a similar incident in 2019 in Lhaviyani. After the first report, the Manta Trust team created an official guideline Alongside the classroom sessions, there were a few for “Mooring Line Entanglement Mitigation”, outdoor activities, such as making a sand sculpture of a in which industrial cable ties are attached life-size manta ray on the beach. The children were amazed along mooring lines, each at a 45-degree to discover the sheer size of mantas, and compare the size angle from the previous tie installed to create of a manta ray and a human. They went for a snorkel at a a spiral of ties. This makes the mooring line nearby cleaning station called Hithadhoo Corner, which much more visible to megafauna and aims to is located just 10 minutes boat ride away from Six Senses prevent potential entanglement. Making sure Laamu. Before the snorkel, they learnt the correct code of there is no excess or loose line also minimizes conduct for being in the water with mantas, in order not the chance of entanglement. to disturb their natural behavior. They were extremely lucky to encounter a manta from above, alongside other After the most recent incident, the Maldivian mega fauna such as grey reef sharks, white-tip reef sharks Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and and a green turtle. Generally, mantas can only be spotted Ministry of Tourism have endorsed the Manta whilst diving at this site, but thanks to great visibility and Trust protocols, in order to promote this a very friendly manta, the Junior Marine Biologists were method to more resorts and islands. We have treated to a truly unique experience! installed cable ties along all of the mooring lines at Six Senses Laamu, to ensure that our mooring lines in areas of high megafauna activity are made “manta safe”. Marine Biology & Sustainability Newsletter Marine Biology & Sustainability Newsletter Six Senses Laamu 8 Six Senses Laamu 9

SUSTAINABILITY & COMMUNITY COMPOST UPDATE GHOST In January, we added three additional partitions to our compost site, each three cubic meters in NETS AND size, to boost our capacity for on site composting.

ENTANGLED These new sections will be used for the final stage of our composting process, after the material TURTLES has been turned and mixed three times. When the compost arrives in the new area it will take In the first week of January we recovered a another one to two months to give us around four huge ghost net from the waters surrounding tons of usable compost out of each full pile. This will significantly increase our soil quality in the Six Senses Laamu. The net was so large that organic garden and helps us to produce more we had to enlist the help of both boats and healthy and delicious herbs and vegetables for tractors to remove the net from the water. We our culinary team. recorded 22 different types of net and many more lines and rope. Data from ghost nets (including mesh size, colour, construction etc.) are used to determine the origin of the net and to aid regulatory authorities in reducing loss of fishing gear. Sadly, we also found a bone entangled within the net. Unfortunately we were a little too late to save SOAP this individual, however we are thankful that the net can no longer entangle others. WORKSHOPS This month, we worked on and created Later that same week, our boat crew found new recipes for our Earth Lab soap a hawksbill turtle entangled in ghost net making workshop. We also built our at Fushi Kandu (a local channel dive site). NESTING STARTS own timber mold to cold process soap. Thankfully, the turtle had not sustained The new products have turned out serious injuries and was able to be released EARLY AT SIX great and a lot of fun was had during immediately. The ghost net was recovered the process. and brought back to the resort. SENSES LAAMU After trialing the workshop with hosts Ghost nets and entangled turtles in the The 2021 nesting season started early on Olhuveli with from other departments, we are delighted Maldives are most often found during the our first nest of the season laid at the end of January. to announce that the workshop is ready north east monsoon season (December- Mature female green turtles migrate huge distances for our guests and will be launched as an activity in February. March). These nets drift from areas of high from their feeding grounds to their nesting beaches and net fishing activity - such as India and Sri can lay between one and six nests per season. We are Stay tuned to see in future many new Lanka - to the Maldives, entangling turtles excited to welcome nesting females back to our beaches soap creations made here in Laamu! and other marine animals en route. and look forward to a successful nesting season. Marine Biology & Sustainability Newsletter Six Senses Laamu 10

To learn more about Six Senses Laamu marine conservation and sustainability initiatives please contact:

Leanna Crowley Marketing Communications Manager [email protected]

Philippa Roe Head Marine Biologist [email protected]

To stay up to date with the latest news, events and visiting experts follow Six Senses Laamu, Maldives Underwater Initiative and Deep Blue Divers on social media

Six Senses Laamu Olhuveli Island, Laamu Atoll, Maldives T +960 680 0800 F +960 680 0801 www.sixsenses.com