UN General Assembly
2017

Taking care of our ocean is intimately linked to taking meaningful action on climate change. The Maldives and other island nations are custodians of large expanses of ocean. Yet every person in this Hall, every community which they represent and every country they come from benefits from our oceans and depends on the health and wealth of our oceans and seas. Every other breath we take comes from the ocean. In the Maldives, the ocean is the backbone and the artery of its two main economic sectors: fishing and tourism. The ocean defines who the Maldivians are — traditional seafarers and members of fishing communities who rely on the produce that the ocean offers them. We therefore welcomed and actively participated in the first United Nations Oceans Conference, held earlier this year, and despite the hardships, we have preserved our traditional method of pole-and-line fishing, which is the best regarded, cleanest, greenest and most sustainable method of fishing, as it is predicated on catching fish individually with practically no by-catch.