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.

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.

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.

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.”