Two Maldivian women have joined an international science mission and dive deep into the waters off their home country to find out exactly what needs to be done to ensure their country remains habitable in the face of global warming, they will make history as part of a ten-person science team from the Indian Ocean nation.
To conduct the first systematic survey and sampling of the waters surrounding the Maldives from the surface to 1,000 meters below sea level, the Nekton Maldives Mission sets sail on September 4. The eight women will actually be venturing into uncharted seas as nothing is known about what is below 50 meters. Nekton, a marine research organization based in the UK, and the Maldivian government are working together on the mission.
Shafiya Naeem, Director General of Maldives Marine Research Institute who is leading the Maldives scientists on the mission and Farah Amjad, Research Assistant to the Nekton Maldives Mission have been named in the crew of the Nekton mission’s first descent. They will join submersible pilot Kimly Do.
According to Shafiya, whose study focuses on aquatic animal health, their goal during our submersible dives is to find and better understand what our waters contain so we can start to protect what lives there and safeguard the ecosystem more meaningfully. And will be able to detect their relative abundance at deep for the first time, which is a crucial indicator to estimate the health of the ocean. Our ocean is home to 40 species of shark and 18 species of ray.
The Maldives is a country with 99% of its territory is ocean and the remaining 1% is on average 1.5 meters above sea level. As a result, the threat posed by the rising seas to the Maldives is escalating. The scientists anticipate finding the old beach line from 20,000 years ago at depths of about 120 meters, when sea levels surged due to ice melt from the Last Glacial Maximum. Their goal includes looking into how marine life has changed in response to sea level rise.
The translucent pressure sphere of the submersible, according to Farah Amjad, whose work focuses on deep sea biodiversity and reef rehabilitation, will provide the ideal platform for observation, the cornerstone of scientific inquiry. And will be able to explore and uncover vast new areas of the country for the first time thanks to roughly a dozen cameras for video surveys and cutting-edge sample techniques, added Farah.
According to Professor Lucy Woodall, Nekton Principal Scientist, Department of Biology, University of Oxford who is leading Nekton’s international scientific team, one of the highlights will be mapping and documenting life on the first seamount in the Northern Indian Ocean as we descend its flanks to a depth of 1,000 meters, and expect to find some powerful current whirling around the underwater mountain, which will probably make submersible dives rather tough.
Only 300 of the 100,000 seamounts above 1000 meters in the world’s oceans have ever had biological samples taken. Maldivian folklore frequently makes reference to the 34 seamounts, which are vital spawning sites for regional fisheries like tuna.
The Mission is deploying two of the most advanced human-occupied submersibles, alongside robotic and autonomous systems, and over a dozen research technologies supported by 40 partners – 16 Maldivian and 24 international.
 
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Ibrahim Yaafiu
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