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.

Results are presented of a demonstration of real-time fish blast location in Sabah, Malaysia using a networked hydroacoustic array based on the ShotSpotter gunshot location system.

Destructive fishing using explosives occurs in a number of countries worldwide, negatively impacting coral reefs and fisheries on which millions of people rely. Documenting, quantifying and combating the problem has proved problematic. 

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.

Marine life in the Malaysian state of Sabah has long been under threat by ruthless fishermen who use the technique of ‘blast fishing’ to indiscriminately destroy plant and animal life underwater.

A new groundbreaking technology to detect blast fishing activities in real time is showing promise in efforts to protect Sabah’s marine life.

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.