REMOTE SENSING OF NEARSHORE RESOURCES IN MALDIVES

Ⅰ.INTRODUCTION The Republic of Maldives is an archipelago of some 1200 coral islands which clustered in 26 atolls in the central Indian Ocean (Figure 1). The total area of the county is 10,800 km^2, however its land area accounts for only 3% (298 km^2). Thus, the most of its resources are hidden in underwater. For a few thousands years tuna fishing has been the traditional industrial of the Maldives. Tourism becomes important in the national income only in the recent 20 years. Due to the coplexity of the underwater topography in the coral reef area, the investigation of the natural resources using conventional methods is difficult. To evaluate the potential applications of remote