The state government is looking beyond tightened enforcement to solve the rampant fish bombing activities in Sabah, says Datuk Junz Wong.

The Kota Kinabalu Marine Police Force (PPM) detained two men and seized a boat, on suspicion of being involved in fish bombing activities in Pulau Gaya on Friday (Nov 15).

The coast of Malaysian Borneo is renowned for its coral reefs and world class diving. But because of plummeting fish stocks, local fishermen desperate for a catch are resorting to dangerous and illegal strategies – even using explosives.

Sabah, Malaysia: George Woodman’s first experience of fish bombing in Sabah—a Malaysian state in the northern part of the island of Borneo—was in 1994 during an underwater survey of the area’s renowned coral reefs.

UK native James Morgan was studying photography in London when he read about a group of seafaring Southeast Asian nomads who had survived the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami with almost no casualties.

Nothing beats dynamite fishing for sheer efficiency.

ShotSpotter has two environmental initiatives which have shown great technical promise – protecting rhinos in Africa from poaching and locating fish bomb blasts in the tropics.

The South Sulawesi Police have arrested 15 people for allegedly importing illegal explosive materials from Malaysia to be used for blast fishing in Pangkajene and Islands regency, South Sulawesi.

Sabah will use an American technology called ShotSpotter to combat fish bombing which is a serious issue in the state.

Seventy per cent of the southern reefs at Semporna Priority Conservation Area (PCA) were impacted by fish bombing activities at various levels, said Choo Poh Leem from WWF-Malaysia.

The flat, hot calm of an afternoon on the Philippine Sea is broken by an ear-splitting explosion. A plume of water rockets upwards. And fishermen, who had thrown a homemade explosive into the ocean just seconds before, rush to scoop up stunned and dying fish.

Dynamite fishing practices allegedly perpetrated by fishermen from West Nusa Tenggara threaten to cause serious damage to coral reef in the Sawu Sea National Park in Flores, East Nusa Teng.