Why this film?

The issue of fish bombing is not new in Sabah or the rest of Southeast Asia (e.g. Philippines, Indonesia, Hong Kong etc). Traditional fishing methods would be a fishing line and a lure. In an hour you may get a handful of fish - maybe more maybe less to feed many mouths versus fish bombing - the act of throwing homemade explosives into the coral reefs in under a minute and bagging a big catch in less than half an hour (see photo).

Fish-bombing happens without warning and often when no one is around. Some days there are no bombings, others two or three together. There is no set pattern. Even if park authorities were to act, they have no idea where the crime is taking place due to how vast the marine park is. Round-the-clock patrolling of an area that is about half the size of Singapore is impossible with current manpower shortage.

To treat these problems with a technology-based solution seems a natural progression – where man is unable to achieve its goals with the soft approach of educational awareness and enforcement, a more innovative method seems appropriate. But will it work?

Why this film needs your support

After a year of pitching and filming a trailer, we won a grant, but not all of it. It won't allow us to film three days with the director which is the amount of time to totally flesh out the technology in the film. 


The two locations that have to be filmed are the Sea Mammal Research Unit in St Andrews University where the passive acoustic monitoring system is currently being used to locate sea mammals, and at Tayport town which is where St Andrews Instrumentation Limited is located - they are the engineers who are building the bomb listening device for deployment in Sabah waters.

We initially had one day of shoot - using a Glasgow crew but with the currency devaluation we are now struggling to find new funds even for one day let alone three days.

This is where you can help find a fish bomber and save a coral reef from being destroyed. Please help us to reach our goal so that we may tell this story - which can be shared with other people trying to stop fish bombing in their seas. Please contribute whatever you can afford and/or help share this plea with your family and friends on social media. If you can help us raise GBP5,500, we will be filming in Scotland from 13th - 15th of November, 2015. On behalf of the coral reefs of Malaysia and Southeast Asia, thank you!

Technical Check

Campaign News

Why we are crowdfunding so late?

We've held off crowdfunding on Pozible until now because we wanted to see how much we could DIY the gear and if we really needed almost three weeks of principal filming in Sabah. Now that we ascertain that we do need that number of days, that doesn't leave us anything for Scotland. 

Next week we are filming in Sabah from Oct 21 - Nov 9.

- If we cannot meet our goal of GBP5,500, the Glasgow crew without the Malaysian director will film for one day, and we have to find other ways of topping up the Glasgow crew's fees.

- If you can help us meet our goal in about 3 weeks, the Glasgow crew and I can film for 3 days and get a clearer representation about Scotland's role in this ground-breaking innovation to stop fish bombers from getting away with their illegal catch.

How we are using your funds:

- Glasgow crew (cameraman, camera assistant, sound recordist %20 Malaysia director [pro bono] %20  camera and sound gear rental - 3 days shoot - GBP2,693
- Meals - 4 pax - GBP720
- Travel - return flight, train, tram, taxi, mileage - GBP1,105
- Hotel - Glasgow crew %20 Malaysia director - GBP440
- Pozible admin and some merchant transaction fees - GBP292
- Rewards %20 merchant transaction fees - GBP542

Goal to Meet: GBP5,500.

- we are filming in the monsoon season, so there is a higher chance of rainfall. Our gear will be waterproofed with DIY garbage bags and we are scheduling outdoor shoots to mornings (less chance of rain)
- aerial drones don't like water - we found a second-hand waterproof drone, should the drone crash into the sea.