People: NIQ ALI
“I COULD SWIM BEFORE I COULD WALK”
Clean Waves meets Niq Ali, the 18 year-old student, surfer, freediver who has traveled the length and breadth of the Maldives, on a trip back home from studying in London. We caught up with him by the shoreline of Maamendhoo island, where Niq’s family have a beach house and he spent a lot of his childhood, learning how to fish and to surf, and where he wears the Clean Waves Type 02 frames in Black/Pink, made from reclaimed fishing gear and marine plastic debris collected from coastal communities around the world by Parley’s Global Cleanup Network.
HOW DOES IT FEEL TO BE REUNITED WITH THE INDIAN OCEAN?
It feels like I’ve never left. Maybe it’s because I carry the ocean around with me in my heart.
WHAT WAS IT LIKE GROWING UP IN THE MALDIVES?
I could swim before I could walk — I must have been about eight months old. Then, when I was a little bit older, maybe as a toddler, I used to go SCUBA diving with my mom – I would use the alternative air source on her SCUBA. We would stay close to the surface but it would feel like I’m really deep.
AND NOW YOU’VE GRADUATED TO FREEDIVING! IS THERE A PARTICULAR ANIMAL YOU SEEK OUT WHEN YOU’RE UNDERWATER?
I love to go diving with a lot of big sharks: bull sharks, tiger sharks, hammerheads. I think I love them so much as people have these misconceptions about them, but when you’re in the water with them, you realize they’re not there to kill you. They’re not scary at all, but they’re smart and curious —they’ll come up to you to have a look, but they never get too close. If you don’t provoke them, I’m sure they’ll not bite.
Photo by Shaahina Ali
DO YOU EVER HAVE CLOSE ENCOUNTERS WITH PLASTIC ABOVE OR UNDER THE WATER?
Growing up in the Maldives, I would always see plastic lying around the beaches, but not to the extent that you see nowadays. In fact, if a beach hasn’t been cleaned recently, you’re always going to see plastic. Just yesterday I went with the Parley Maldives team to clean up the coast besides the airport wall; there is a lot of plastic there as no one ever goes there. We had to access it by boat, and we collected seven jumbo bags — but when we cleaned that spot a couple of years ago we picked up five tons. The tides of plastic never stop. You could go there tomorrow and probably pick up another seven bags of plastic.
WHY BOTHER CLEANING THE BEACHES IF PLASTIC KEEPS RETURNING?
It’s important to do it until we can find a solution to replace the material with something better — until then it’s important we at least try to remove what’s already there. I’m studying business at the moment, and for sure I can say that industries need to change the way they’re doing business now, because at the very most basic level, if there’s no planet, there’s not going to be any business for them to do. Circularity offers the most benefits for both sides, for the planet and everyone that lives on it.
HAS THIS INSPIRED YOU TO MAKE ANY CHANGES AT HOME, OR BE MORE MINDFUL OF WHAT YOU BUY WHEN YOU’RE OUT AND ABOUT?
In my house we don’t use plastic. We try to minimize our use of plastic — for example, I don’t use clothes hangers, or bottles made from plastic. But that’s really rare in the Maldives, so I try my best to make my friends change. I’ll always try to make whatever difference I can make.
“A lot of people don’t realize that it is us Maldivians who are actually going to face the consequences of the actions of the rest of the world.”
WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT HOW CLIMATE CHANGE IS AFFECTING THE MALDIVES?
I think a lot of people don’t realize that it is us Maldivians who are actually going to face the consequences of the actions of the rest of the world. It’s important that people become more aware of what is happening here — I’ve seen some islands with extremely high tides, where the water goes into people’s homes and they can’t live there anymore. It’s so sad to see. We need to tell these stories.
AND WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE PEOPLE TO KNOW ABOUT YOU?
The passion I have for the oceans in every way, from surfing to diving, and then the work I do with my mom with Parley, really comes out of love for the ocean and the environment as I’ve seen everything there is to see in this country. Not many Maldivians have seen as much of the country as I have, and especially not underwater, as most people can’t swim. Still, every time I go out on a boat to help clean up a remote island somewhere, it always takes my breath away. Just going out on a boat on a nice day and seeing the islands, it never gets old. In fact it feels like my first time, every time.
Campaign photography by Antonio De Masi