President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih has declared the ‘Farikeda’ site at the southeast of Favahmulah city as a protected area.
The decision was made following deliberations on a paper presented by the Ministry of Environment at the Cabinet sitting held Tuesday at the President’s Office.
The President’s Office stated that Farikeda was declared as a protected site as proposed by the Fuvamulah City Council after a deliberating on a cabinet paper submitted by the environment minister. The council proposed to develop the site with a separate management plan in a way that the public can gain benefit from the area.
The Farikeda is a "Thresher Point", a section on a rocky limestone plateau frequented by two species of thresher sharks; the bigeye thresher shark and common thresher shark and other migrating fish including whale sharks, ocean sunfish and oceanic manta". These species are known as globally endangered species and it is vital to protect these areas, stated the President’s Office.
The government on 15 June 2019 declared 11 eco-rich sites in Haa Alifu, Haa Dhaalu, Shaviyani and Noonu Atolls as protected areas. The administration vowed to protect at least one island, a reef area and a mangrove-wetland area from each atoll.
The cabinet meeting held on Tuesday
