The Fuvahmulah city council has postponed the enforcement of new rules for diving near the island.
The council published regulations in June on the management of the seas around Fuvahmulah for tourism purposes.
The regulations were due to come into force today. But the council deferred enactment after Fuvahmulah divers protested against the new rules.
The Fuvahmulah city council's media official told Adhadhu that the regulations were deferred because diving schools were unhappy with some provisions. Changes will be made following consultations with the dive schools, the official said.
A workshop about the regulations was held with dive schools last week, the media official said. But the workshop ended without adequate cooperation from the dive schools, whose representatives walked out, the official said.
Last week, divers staged a sit-in protest against the regulations inside the city council office.
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.
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.
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.
