Fuvahmulah divers have protested inside the city council office against new diving rules.
The Fuvahmulah city council told Adhadhu that Mayor Ismail Rafeeq and council members met with the protesting divers on Sunday.
The regulations enacted by the city council introduced a fee for scuba diving in Fuvahmulah. A schedule was also made for dive schools to visit the 'Tiger Shark Point.'
The fee structure (for every 15 days)
- Foreign vessels - USD 200 per person for Maldivians and foreigners
- Fee for safaris and diving schools not based in Fuvahmulah - USD 55 per person for foreigners and USD 20 per person for Maldivians
- Fuvahmulah diving schools - USD 40 per person for foreigners and USD 20 per person for Maldivians
The protesting divers called on the council to reduce the fees and to leave the schedule for the tiger shark dives up to dive schools.
According to the rules, the council will control the schedule after August. But the dive schools want to maintain the schedule on their own as they did before.
In the sit-in protest against the diving fees at the council office reception, divers called the rules a money-making scheme and asked for new guidelines that would enable safe diving. The council was accused of intervening in private businesses.
Council members and other relevant officials met the protesting divers and discussed resolving the dispute, but no decision has been reached yet, a city council media official said.
The rules for diving in the famous 'Tiger Shark Point' near the island prohibited feeding and touching sharks while diving. The rules also limited the number of divers to 35 at a time.
Divers say that touching and feeding sharks are common at the spot. As a result, the creatures face difficulty in finding prey naturally.
