Mountain Peaks & Ocean Depths: Tuna and turtles on Felivaru

Felivaru is 2 islands over from Naifaru and is the site of an industrial tuna canning factory. We got about halfway there when the dhoni spluttered and stalled. Nothing mechanically wrong, simply out of diesel! A quick phone call, a bit of a wait and then another boat showed up to rescue us.

We were spoiled - lunch on arrival with tuna done 3 different ways. A tour around the island and canning factory and a look at the baby turtles they are rearing!

The factory on Felivaru processes around 15 tonnes of mainly skippy and yellowfin tuna every day.

Skippies

Well down on the 50 odd tonnes they used to process each day decades ago but such is the cost of overfishing. Most of the tuna today is destined for Europe and the UK and the type (or types) of tuna in each can is made up depending on what is asked for.

A fishing boat had just arrived and the crew unloaded their haul by hand. Throughout the factory, while there are conveyors, can-making machines, sorting and automatic labelling machines, many of the processes are also labour intensive. It's so different from what I'm used to, but it provides much needed work for the people on nearby islands and atolls.

We jumped into one of the chillers that held 250 tonnes of fish! It was a balmy -20 degrees complete with stalactites, clumps of ice falling from the ceiling and a skating rink on the floor (reminded me of my penguin- keeping days).

Workers who live on Naifaru catch the ferry home each night, while those who come from islands and atolls further away live on Felivaru for several days or weeks before returning home.

Housing for people who stay on Felivaru

The turtles they have were about 1 month old and were so cute! Some were super active and flew around the tank playing dodgems with the others. Some were happy tucking their flippers onto their backs and lazily floating around. While others dived underwater surfacing under another turtle and knocking them away. Much like a bunch of 5 year olds playing!

We are setting up a turtle monitoring, rehab and conservation programme on Naifaru. This trip was a chance for us to see what Felivaru does and to discuss how we could work together and help each other out.

The beaches on the island have the pure white, soft sand you see in all the Maldives photos...and it's where turtles come to nest! No turtles this afternoon.

But we did see lots of tiny, translucent black tip reef sharks swimming back and forth in ankle deep water. Small, browny stingrays were basking in the shallows too and neither of them seemed to mind when we waded out to see them better.

There are other income-gathering activities on the island too. Fish guts are munched up, dried and turned into garden fertiliser. Coconut husks are mulched for gardening too.

And a herd of goats, a flock of chickens and a couple of cows produce milk and eggs which are sold in the islands store.

The other mammals living on the island are huge fruit bats. They were flying from tree to tree and the way they swooped around made me think of Batman!

We caught the ferry back - thankfully this time it was an uneventful and smooth trip home!