When his father refused to let him tag along on fishing trips because of his young age, he snuck onto the boat and hid there with a friend. The pair would hide there until some of the fishermen went into sea to catch bait. They knew being discovered at that point would meant his dad would allow them to fish, with no other option at hand.

This is how Adam Rashid, 36, started his journey in fishing to become 'Life of a Fisherman' - a social media personality beloved by many.

Rashid, who grabbed a rod and became a fisherman as soon as he finished school, said he always wanted to become a fisherman like his father.

Initially, however, Rashid was forced to leave this dream behind, due to the difficulties within the sector at the time. He ended up finding other work, but still kept fishing as a hobby.

"First I went yellow fin tuna fishing as a career. I had to leave that [job] after about seven years," he said.

While he continued with his new work, circumstances led him to move back to his home island, Faresmathoda. With significant life changes, he once again returned to fishing in 2020. Since then, Rashid's life has revolved around fishing and promoting the field.

That is how Life of a Fisherman became famous on the internet.

"Faresmathoda has many fishermen. About 90 percent of youth are fishermen. But people don't really know that this is being done at such a scale on this island. So [I] wanted to show the island's work. That's why I started making videos," he said.

The first video Rashid posted on his Facebook page dedicated to fishing received 26 million views. He then made an Instagram page to build on that success. That video got 69 million views. Considering how well the video performed on these two platforms, he then uploaded the video onto youtube. The video got a million views there.

Within a short period, his channel went viral, and Rashid amassed a whopping 100,000 followers, earning him the silver play button of the Youtube Creators Award.

Rashid describes this as one of the biggest achievement in his work to promote fishing.

Today, his work has been elevated one step further, having been named a brand ambassador for Oooredoo Maldives.

"I want to take this opportunity to show the youth that this is a field in which they can move forward. I want to show them well [they can] earn from this field," he said.

Rashid said fisheries is the lifeline of the Maldivian people and that the future of the field is in the hands of the youth.

"Fishing is the only sector that can be depended on if the world is hit by a major disaster and Maldives' [economy] takes a hit. This sector can be developed in various ways. For example, if youth go out and collaborate with the tourism sector to develop night fishing and sports fishing, it can earn a lot of money [for them]," he said.

Rashid said he hopes to work with Ooredoo to familiarise young people in the sector to encourage and promote safe and sustainable fishing.