Mariculture in the Maldives: farming fish and sea cucumbers

Aquaculture is farming fish, shellfish and plants in water; mariculture is the saltwater version, in lagoons, pens, cages or seawater tanks.

The Maldives has little land but many shallow, sheltered lagoons, and it already lives from the sea through tuna fishing and reef tourism.

It is still small. In August 2025, national broadcaster MMTV described the Maldives as only beginning to explore its aquaculture potential, pointing to gaps in infrastructure, research, finance and skills.

If you want the bigger picture first, read our guides to fishing in the Maldives and the Maldivian economy.

Three reasons come up again and again:

• Too much reliance on tuna. In 2022 the fisheries minister of the day said dwindling fish stocks were a major concern and that yellowfin catches needed to fall, as reported by PSM News.
• Too much reliance on tourism. Farmed seaweed, sea cucumbers and fish are new exports.
• Island jobs. Farms sit in atoll lagoons, so ministers present them as income for island families.

In June 2026 a state minister for fisheries told PSM News he expected mariculture, especially seaweed, to earn as much as or more than the skipjack tuna fishery in the near future.

Sea cucumbers are soft-bodied animals that live on sandy lagoon floors. Dried, they are sold as a delicacy in East Asia.

From wild harvest to hatcheries

The Maldives first exported wild-caught sea cucumbers. A 1992 review by the FAO’s Bay of Bengal Programme was written because of the resource’s vulnerability to uncontrolled exploitation, and it flagged falling catches of valuable species and the harvesting of juveniles.

Farming came next. According to a paper in an Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) symposium volume (2012), sandfish (*Holothuria scabra*) has been cultured in the Maldives since 1996. Juveniles bred in a hatchery are moved out to lagoons once they reach 2–3 cm, and grow-out takes about 12–18 months. Villagers on nearby islands raised juveniles under contract, which the authors credit for its long-running success.

The Laamu pilot

From 2012 to 2020, the government ran the Mariculture Enterprise Development Project, funded by IFAD, the UN’s rural development fund. Its aim was to widen the fisheries sector beyond tuna. In Laamu Atoll, households on Dhanbidhoo, Kalaidhoo and Isdhoo received cages, young sea cucumbers on loan, and training, as reported by Edition and PSM News. IFAD’s own review says parts of the project did not take off as planned and it was reshaped around two pilots, sea cucumbers and groupers. For background on the atoll, see our Laamu Atoll guide.

Groupers are valuable reef fish. Farming them needs a steady supply of young fish, hence the focus on a hatchery.

Maanaagala, Gaafu Alif

In late 2022 the fisheries ministry signed a contract for a multi-species hatchery on Maanaagala in Gaafu Alif Atoll, funded by a World Bank grant under the Sustainable Fisheries Resources Development Project. Edition reported the value as USD 16 million, with a 20-year operating period. The hatchery is meant to produce sea cucumbers, groupers and baitfish (the small live fish used in pole-and-line tuna fishing).

PSM News later reported the targets as about 100 tonnes of baitfish, one million young groupers and 600,000 sea cucumbers a year, and said most building work was done. We could not confirm from an official source that it is fully operating as of October 2026. Our Huvadhoo Atoll guide covers the region.

Research closer to Malé

A 2019 Ministry of Finance tender covered construction supervision for a mariculture research and development facility on Maniyafushi in Kaafu Atoll, the same atoll as Dhiffushi. The IFAD project’s grouper pilot was run with the Marine Research Centre (now the Maldives Marine Research Institute).

• First commercial farm. A private company began commercial seaweed growing in Fehendhoo, Baa Atoll, on 20 April 2025, the first large-scale seaweed farm in the country (MMTV). An FAO study had found local waters suitable.
• First export. In November 2025, MMTV reported the first batch was ready for export.
• Scale. By June 2026, the state minister told PSM News the company had grown from about 100 kg of seaweed to a harvest of around 63 tonnes of dried seaweed a month, roughly five export containers. That figure comes from the company via the ministry.
• More farms. Further seaweed projects have started in Gaafu Alif Atoll, run by Maldivian investors (MMTV, June 2026).

Seaweed needs no feed: it grows on lines, taking nutrients from the sea. Baa Atoll is a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve; read our Baa Atoll guide for more.

In June 2026, PSM News and MMTV reported five areas the government has marked for mariculture:

• Boduthiladhunmathi
• Raa Atoll
• Meemu Atoll
• Thaa Atoll
• a lagoon about 2 km from Maniyafushi

The government has also launched a Mariculture Scheme offering financial help to people and companies entering the sector, though details such as amounts were not published in those reports.

Mariculture is governed by the Fisheries Act (Act 14/2019), which has its own chapter on aquaculture, plus regulations made under it on licences and permits.

The rules are moving. In August 2025, MMTV reported that the government now allows lagoons and offshore areas outside island council jurisdiction to be leased for aquaculture; before, only uninhabited islands were allocated. On 31 August 2026 the President ratified a second amendment to the Fisheries Act, which, according to the President’s Office, expands the rules on leasing sea areas for aquaculture and covers aquaculture inside protected areas. The ministry was given 60 days to update its regulations.

New farms also go through environmental impact assessments. Reports prepared for proposed projects, for example sea cucumbers and groupers at Fares in Baa Atoll and sea cucumbers at Fonadhoo in Laamu, are held in the Maldives National University’s research repository.

Farming the sea is not automatically green. The main concerns are:

• Pollution and nutrients. Fish fed in cages produce waste and leftover feed, which can cloud water and feed algae on nearby reefs.
• Disease and medicines. Crowded animals can spread disease, and poor practice can mean overuse of antibiotics. MMTV named both as risks to coral reefs.
• Lagoon use. Lagoons are where islanders fish, swim and launch boats. MMTV called for transparent, inclusive leasing with community engagement.
• Habitat. Seagrass and sandy flats are nurseries for young fish and feeding grounds for turtles and rays. Read why seagrass matters.

Seaweed and sea cucumbers usually need no added feed, so they are generally seen as lower-impact than caged fish. Much depends on where a farm sits and how it is run. See our coral reefs guide for why reefs are sensitive.

Mariculture is not a tourist attraction, and most farms are far from where visitors stay. You may still notice signs:

• From the air or a boat. Lines of floats or rectangular pens in a lagoon may be seaweed or sea cucumber plots.
• On menus. Grouper farming is only beginning, so if it matters to you, ask where your fish comes from. Our guide to fish on the menu explains the common species.

A few simple rules if you come across a farm:

• Don’t swim, snorkel or anchor inside marked farm areas. They are private leases.
• Don’t take animals from pens or lines.
• Ask before photographing people at work.

To see how island life has long depended on the sea, read our Dhiffushi history and island life guide, and for travelling lightly, responsible travel in the Maldives.