Ministry of Fisheries, Marine Resources, and Agriculture has launched an online portal for parties to request a permit to conduct marine research in the Maldives.
The purpose of the online portal is to manage the permits provided for marine research in the country under one platform. The portal provides the opportunity for local and foreign universities as well as organisations to more easily obtain research permits and log details of their research history.
Interested parties can sign up using their email and apply for a research permit through the portal. They can also register a user account to manage their permits and get notified of status changes and approvals.
The fisheries ministry stated that the online portal is expected to increase the number of marine research being conducted in the Maldives, which would result in more knowledge obtained on the diversity of marine life in the country and increase awareness.
The online portal was developed under the Regenerate Project, funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which aims at creating a network of marine-managed areas. The project is being conducted in collaboration between the government and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in the Maldives, which has been working on critical environmental issues such as climate change and biodiversity since 1985.