hunting the sharks is now banned over nouakchott waters . the cabinet decision has made the indian ocean islanders the fourth people in the region to forbid the practice . shark numbers have plummeted in the maldives in recent years because a significant minority of fishermen target sharks for their lucrative fins , but are used in shark - fin pasta , a luxury asian restaurant . once its fins have been shot off , the shark is sometimes returned to the sea wherever it suffocates over many painful days .
Due to the decreasing number of sharks, Maldives have banned the hunt of reef sharks.