{"id":4056,"date":"2026-05-26T01:44:49","date_gmt":"2026-05-26T01:44:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/?p=4056"},"modified":"2026-05-26T01:46:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-26T01:46:35","slug":"sabah-vows-firm-action-over-fish-bombing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/?p=4056","title":{"rendered":"Sabah vows firm action over fish bombing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

KOTA KINABALU: May 25, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sabah Government will take firm action against those involved in fish bombing activities following a recent incident at the coral reef restoration site on Pulau Selakan in the Tun Sakaran Marine Park (TMTS), Semporna.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin said the incident had caused serious destruction to the marine ecosystem and threatened years of conservation and restoration efforts carried out in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said initial information on the incident was received from Honorary Park Rangers on May 23 at about 11.40am, but the suspects had fled before the TMTS enforcement team arrived at the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Preliminary monitoring by the Community Marine Conservation Group (CMCG) found two craters believed to have been caused by fish bomb explosions within the coral reef restoration area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Further monitoring conducted on May 25 by the TMTS Marine Research Unit together with Reef Check Malaysia and CMCG confirmed that at least 10 reef star frames were damaged, affecting an area of about 15 square metres or 2.91 per cent of the overall restoration site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe affected coral species include Acropora, Pocillopora, Fimbryphyllia, Montipora, Porites and Plerogyra which have been continuously conserved and restored over the past two years through collaboration involving various parties,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jafry said preliminary estimates showed that maintenance and restoration costs for the affected area could reach RM96,000, while damage to reef star structures was estimated at around RM3,000.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said ecosystem service evaluations also indicated that the affected area possessed high ecological and marine resource value.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis incident is deeply worrying because it not only destroys marine conservation efforts built over a long period, but also threatens fishery resources, marine biodiversity and tourist safety.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt may also affect Sabah\u2019s image as an international-class nature tourism destination,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jafry said the vast open sea boundaries within TMTS, limited enforcement assets including boats, and the absence of a permanent substation or control post on Pulau Selakan were among the main challenges in strengthening rapid response capabilities in the area.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said he had instructed Sabah Parks management to review and strengthen strategic measures to improve enforcement operations, including the placement of assets and logistics, the use of drone technology, and increasing the physical presence of enforcement personnel in high-risk areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also called on the maritime community, local fishermen and stakeholders to continue cooperating with authorities by providing immediate information on suspicious activities or encroachment within protected park areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe State Government will not compromise with any form of encroachment or activities that threaten the sustainability of natural resources in protected areas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cFirm action will be taken against any party found violating the law to ensure Sabah\u2019s biodiversity treasures are preserved for future generations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

KOTA KINABALU: May 25, 2026 The Sabah Government will take firm action against those involved in fish bombing activities following a recent incident at the coral reef restoration site on Pulau Selakan in the Tun Sakaran Marine Park (TMTS), Semporna. Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Jafry Ariffin said the incident had caused serious destruction…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4056","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG-20260525-WA0046.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4056"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4058,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4056\/revisions\/4058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/holidaysabah.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}