Fuvahmulah Dive School
At a glance
Grantee
Fuvahmulah Dive School
Where
Fuvahmulah, Maldives
Program
Vulnerable Marine Species
Grant
2025 Community Grant
Follow
Grantee spotlight · Maldives · 2025
Learning from the thresher sharks
Picture divers on Fuvahmulah watching thresher sharks at their cleaning stations, knowing exactly how to give them space, while local scientists use what they’ve recorded to win these sharks greater protection.
Since opening in 2017, Fuvahmulah Dive School has become as much a research base as a dive center. Its team catalogs the island’s tiger sharks, surveys sharks and rays, and worked with the IUCN to have Fuvahmulah recognized as an Important Shark and Ray Area. Their research has been published in journals including Nature and Frontiers.
Now they’re turning to pelagic thresher sharks. For three years the team has filmed them being cleaned around the island with non-invasive underwater cameras, working with the Manta Trust, the Maldives Whale Shark Research Program and the Maldives Fisheries Department. Fuvahmulah is the only documented place in the Indian Ocean where these endangered sharks have been recorded doing this.
What the grant supports
Watch closely
More underwater cameras recording thresher behavior, seasons and the other sharks they meet.
Read the water
Temperature and current meters at three cleaning stations, showing what draws the sharks in.
Grow local scientists
Free scientific internships for five students and local people, with findings shared with the island’s dive centers and community.
Photo: FJ Photography
Photo: FJ Photography
Photo: FJ Photography
PADI AWARE community grants of up to US$10,000 go to PADI Dive Centers and community-based non-profits with an operating budget under US$1 million. Projects are judged on conservation need and community support, and the next round opens in 2027. The next local project is waiting on you.
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