A non-governmental organisation is looking to solve Sabah’s perennial fish bombing issues with ground-breaking technology that can detect blasts underwater in real time.

Depending upon the institutional framework, coral reef ecosystems and local economic development can be synergistic. When managed properly through local institutions, coral reef systems can deliver ecosystem services that create livelihoods and increase local prosperity in dependent communities. 

A six-year old boy was killed when a fish bomb detonated while an 11-member Sea Gypsy family was constructing it at a stilt house off Pulau Bum Bum near Semporna.

Fishing using explosives is common in Tanzanian waters; it is considered to be more widely practiced now than at any other point in history. 

Tougher, harsher and mandatory sentences for environment-related offences are making their way through the legal system; that could send a person to jail for even discarding litter out of the car window.

Fisheries often use extremely destructive methods in order to catch fish. One very common destructive fishing method is by the use of dynamite, often referred to as “blast fishing.”

Blast fishing is one of the most destructive fishing techniques currently in practice.

Jessica Vyvyan-Robinson was diving off Borneo when she was struck without warning by shock waves.

Recently, while leading a dive off the coast of Kota Kinabalu, Borneo, I had my first encounter with the unethical and destructive practice of dynamite fishing.

The Sama Dilaut (also known as Bajau Laut) are a largely stateless maritime community living in the coastal region of the east Malaysian state of Sabah.

Abdul Karim Laing used to be a bomb fisherman. “I started in 1990,” he explains. “My friend was catching a lot of fish – it turned out he was using dynamite and he taught me. I got good at it.”

The Bajau Laut are highly dependent on marine resources both for family consumption and sale. Fishing and gleaning is a way of life for this community and defines their socio-economic and cultural well-being.