Have no intention of making shark fishing legal, the fisheries ministry has said.

While the parliament is currently working on the Fisheries Bill, its committee on economic affairs met with a number of fishermen last week. Some of them had asked to allow shark fishing “if it poses no threat.”

Responding to this, the ministry said that it has no intention of doing so and that prohibiting it “is beneficial.”

Further noting that this is a practice followed internationally, the ministry said that there are no plans to make it legal in the near future.

While the fishermen had also sought to ban the use of spearguns, the fisheries ministry emphasized that the new Fisheries Bill does not allow speargun fishing. It added that the import of speargun is prohibited in the Maldives, but that the bill prohibits the version of it used in the country.

The government submitted the new Fisheries Bill to parliament last month; this bill will replace the current one implemented 32 years ago.