Help with conservation project while scuba diving in the Maldives

Certified divers with a subscription to Sport Diver magazine are being offered the chance to help out with a conservation project whilst scuba diving in the Maldives.

The initiative has been set up to allow qualified recreational divers to help collect important data about the coral, fish, and invertebrates in area whilst enjoying their scuba diving holidays or visits to the Maldives.

Scuba diving in Maldives. Image thanks to worldtraveller5, on Flickr.

The project has been set up by the award-winning conservation organisation, Biosphere Expeditions, and is also supported by the Maldives Marine Research Centre.

The whale sharks will be closely monitored throughout the project as they are the largest fish in the sea which feed primarily on plankton.

Divers helping out with the conservation project will be guided by local marine scientists from the Maldives, as well as marine experts from the UK and Germany. The certified holidaymakers will have the chance to explore some of the most beautiful diving sites in the Indian Ocean.

Scuba diving in the Maldives is one of the area's most popular activities because of the region's rich marine ecosystem. The area is well known for its beautiful colourful coral reefs and hundreds of species of tropical fish. Coral reefs acts as rainforest for marine life and the Maldives is home to approximately 200 different species of coral.

Divers can enjoy sightings of sea turtles, moray eels, puffer fish, jackfish, lionfish, snappers, spotted rays, eagle rays, lobsters, angelfish, butterfly fish, squirrel fish, tuna, barracudas, and grey reef, white, silver tip reef, and whale sharks.

Scuba diving in Maldives. Image thanks to worldtraveller5, on Flickr.

Situated in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives is an island nation which forms a chain of 26 atolls and nearly 1,200 islands, of which only 200 are inhabited. The country is the lowest in the world with islands averaging at only 1.5 metres above sea level.

Travellers flock to the Indian Ocean destination for its warm turquoise crystal clear waters, pristine white sand and palm-infringed beaches, and luxury Maldives hotels comprising beach resorts and luxury water villas on stilts above the calm sparkling ocean waters.

Travellers planning scuba diving in the Maldives are being offered the chance to help out with a new conservation project which has been set up by Biosphere Expeditions and the Maldives Marine Research Centre to collect data from the area's marine life.