Waste management, especially management of plastic waste has become a huge problem for the Maldives. With islands scattered across 820 km from North to South, the logistics for transportation of waste and the lack of local recycling have been the biggest hurdle for management of plastics in the Maldives Plastic remain in the natural environment for hundreds of years and are finding their way into our oceans and beaches .

Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture and Parley have been working together to address the issue of ocean plastics in the Maldives. One of the key goals of the commitment is to AVOID as much as possible the use of plastics in all fishing vessels and to INTERCEPT all plastic waste that are produced by fishing vessels cruising in the Indian Ocean.

Maldives pole and line one by one skip jack fishery is renowned for its sustainability and high environment standards and has been awarded Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification. In addition, some of the exporting companies have also obtained fair trade certification for their products.

Maldives licenses around 800 traditional fishing vessels and under this goal it will be a requirement for licensed vessels to avoid and intercept ocean plastic waste. All the intercepted plastic waste will be collected at the fish processing facilities across the Maldives and be delivered to Parley for reuse.

The Government of Maldives together with, the fisheries industry is working to maintain the pole and line one by one fishery as the gold standard for fisheries practices; and this would further enhance the standard of Maldives fisheries products ensuring premium prices are maintained and all parties across the value chain including the coastal fishermen benefit from the initiatives.