At least four people died on Thursday, May 5, when the homemade dynamite for fishing they were making exploded at a residence in a coastal village in Claveria town in Masbate province, police said Friday.

Police statistics show a decline of up to 30 per cent in the crime rate during the various MCO phases under the Covid-19 pandemic measures. This is not the case for fish bombing.

Sabah Marine Police (PPM) foiled fish bombing and diesel smuggling activities in the waters off Sibogoh island here.

Indonesia and Australia agreed on an alternative livelihood development program, cooperation in supervision and law enforcement, as well as a Public Information Campaign (PIC) to address fishing violations by Indonesian fishermen in the Australian waters.

Decades of blast fishing have destroyed much of the coral reefs off Indonesia’s Lora village, reducing fish catches. A community organization is seeking to have the region zoned as a conservation area.

In central Indonesia’s Spermonde archipelago, a coral reef destroyed by blast fishing — where sticks of dynamite are thrown into the reef to kill fish — has been recovering, but scientists weren’t sure if its ecosystem would return as well. That is, until they heard the endearingly unusual sounds of marine life.

Small-scale and subsistence fisheries play an important role in the livelihoods and food security of several local communities worldwide. However, the status and dynamics of many fishing practices are unknown, particularly regarding destructive fishing practices such as blast fishing.

The Sabah government has pledged to undertake several management plans on environmental preservation and conservation as well as green sustainability.

The Integrated Reef Protection System (IRPS) uses the cloud to connect underwater acoustic arrays, the M2 smart radar with high resolution camera and drone, covert hydrophones, real-time hydrophones and sound traps, and boat mounted sensors with the smartphone "Respond App” to displays blast location in minutes for enforcement officials to protect fragile Marine Protected Areas.

The Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA) has seized an abandoned sampan with seven fish bombs in Sabah's northern waters near Pulau Banggi off Kudat.

Two fishermen were killed while two others were wounded after the improvised dynamite they were about to use to catch fish exploded in the waters off Calbayog City, Samar on Saturday night.

SFB Malaysia Director Terence Lim recently had the chance to meet with the Sabah Marine Police Chief - Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Ahmad Ariffin and his deputy.