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July 2008

protected islands, namely, Lankayan, 

Bilean and Tegaipil. These islands are 

located off Sandakan, Sabah in Sulu 

Sea. It is a secondary nesting area for 

sea turtles and its surrounding waters 

are used as foraging and feeding 

areas by turtles. 

Lankayan Island is fully developed for 

dive tourism. Occasionally, tourists 

get the opportunity to witness the 

emergence of turtle hatchlings from 

the nursery which maintains eggs 

laid on the island. Development of 

facilities on Bilean Island started in 

2007 while Tegaipil has no facilities 

at all. 

CI and Reef Guardian aim to 

strengthen the management of SIMCA 

by establishing sea turtle monitoring 

and increasing law enforcement 

activities. While the project’s duration 

was from June 2006 to January 2008, 

it formed part of a regular long-

term monitoring program being 

established to improve the overall 

management and  environmental 

law enforcement in SIMCA. The 

partnership with CI contributed 

in  increasing the capacity of 

Reef Guardian staff for enhanced 

management of SIMCA.  To improve 

law enforcement, CI supported the 

recruitment of three additional 

staff (i.e., 1 marine technician and 2 

enforcement crew) bringing to 10 

the total number of Reef Guardian 

staff.  Their capacities were enhanced 

through training on basic navigation, 

use of global positioning system, and 

radar operation. They were  trained 

by the  Sabah Wildlife Department as 

honorary wildlife wardens, providing 

them knowledge and skills in the 

process of stopping fishing boat/

vessels, search and inspection, 

determination of activities that violate 

the Wildlife Conservation Enactment 

of 1997 and familiarization with 

endangered and CITES-listed species, 

and report writing. 

The various capacity-building 

activities yielded the following results:

1.  Sea patrol around SIMCA 

progressively increased from 56 

patrols in 2005 to 100 in 2006 and  

134 in 2007 (239% increase from 

2005 baseline);

2.  Fishing boats stopped and 

inspected increased from 77 

in 2006 to 118 in 2007 (153% 

increase);

3.  Total boats detained increased 

from 5 in 2006 to 16 in 2007 (31% 

increase);

4.  In December 2006, a fishing 

trawler was stopped and one live 

female turtle was found caught 

in the net. The boat was detained 

and its crew strictly warned.

5.  In 2007, one fishing boat 

using sodium cyanide, was 

apprehended near Lankayan 

Island in February; one at 

Tegaipil Island  in October. Three 

dynamite fishing boats were 

arrested around Lankayan Island 

in October-November during 

joint operations with Marine 

Police Sabah. Fishing boats were 

confiscated and boat owners 

fined.

Despite these gains, there remains 

a need to expand law enforcement 

efforts in SIMCA, through increased 

manpower, improvement of facilities 

(e.g., more sensitive radar system 

and patrol boats) and expansion of 

cooperation with law enforcement 

agencies. There is also a need 

to source funds to support law 

enforcement expansion.

Project support for floating ranger 

stations and patrolling in the Berau 

Coastal and Marine Conservation 

Area (Indonesia) has resulted in 

the apprehension of and legal 

proceedings against a foreign vessel 

with 12 crew and carrying 387 dead 

sea turtles.  Legal support was 

provided to a case against a foreign 

fishing vessel caught in the Philippine 

Turtle Islands.

Although not specifically focused 

on environmental law enforcement, 

the Malaysia-Philippine Border Patrol 

Coordinating Group, the Malaysia-

Indonesia (MALINDO) Operation and 

the Philippines-Indonesia Permanent 

Joint Working Group on Maritime and 

Ocean Concerns, also continue to 

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Tropical Coasts

foster cooperation in law enforcement 

in the tri-national sea turtle corridor 

(Tri-National Committee on the SSME, 

2007 and Palma and Tsamenyi, 2008).

Valuable Experiences, 

Practical Knowledge

  

Practical knowledge and valuable 

learning have been gained in the 

enforcement of coastal and marine 

environmental laws in the seascape of 

the Sulu-Sulawesi. 

These include: 

1. Illegal fishers adapt their methods 

to that of the enforcers’, hence, 

enforcers need to stay vigilant 

and innovative in the conduct of 

operations.  

2. The law enforcement and 

prosecution process involves 

multi-party cooperation as shown 

in the cooperation of Sandakan 

Marine Police and Sabah Wildlife 

Department which made possible 

the completion of the process of 

arrest, detention and prosecution. 

Appreciation of environmental 

laws by the judiciary also helps.

3. Enforcers must take into account 

activities at night, at their borders 

and outside MPAs, too. For 

example, fishers using sodium 

cyanide are sometimes deployed 

to shallow reef areas by a mother 

boat anchored outside SIMCA and 

not easily detected. 

4. Broader management of the 

coastal area is equally important 

in enforcing and reducing illegal 

fishing practices, such as through 

proper licensing and ICM. 

While stakeholders for marine 

biodiversity have had significant 

gains, gaps remain:  political will 

to enforce laws needs to be built; 

remote locations require guarding; 

References 

Chung, F. C. 2008. Final Report: 

Strengthening Sea Turtle Monitoring 

and Enforcement in the Sugud Islands 

Marine Conservation Area (SIMCA). Reef 

Guardian Sdn Bhd. Sabah Malaysia. 

Conservation International Sulu-

Sulawesi Seascape Project, Quezon City, 

Philippines. 12 p.

Enderez, E. M. 2004. Fisheries Resource 

Assessment of Balayan Bay. World Wide 

Fund for Nature-Philippines.

Faburada, A. n.d. “Coastal Law Enforcement 

Report, Municipality of Balabac, 

Palawan. Conservation International 

Sulu-Sulawesi Seascape Project, 

Quezon City, Philippines. 

Gutierrez, J.S. n.d. “Verde Passage Marine 

Biodiversity Conservation Corridor 

Enforcement Strategy. “ Conservation 

International-Philippines, Quezon City, 

Philippines. 

Palma, M.A. and M. Tsamenyi. 2008. 

Case Study on the Impacts of Illegal, 

Unreported and Unregulated Fishing 

in the Sulawesi Sea. APEC Fisheries 

Working Group.

Quibilan, M. 2008. Personal 

Communication.

Rosales, R.M.P. 2008. “Costs in Enforcing 

Fishing Rules and Regulations 

in Verde Passage.” Conservation 

International-Philippines, Quezon 

City, Philippines. 

Rosales, R.M.P. 2006. “Estimating 

Appropriate Fines for Ship Grounding 

Violations in Tubbataha Reef 

National Marine Park.” Conservation 

International-Philippines, Quezon 

City, Philippines.

Tri-National Committee on the Sulu-

Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion. 2007. 

2nd Meeting of the Tri-National 

Committee on the Sulu-Sulawesi 

Marine Ecoregion. Minutes of the 

Meeting. Magellan Sutera, Kota 

Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia, 19-21 April 

2007. 

Tubbataha Management Office. “Final 

report – TRNP Law Enforcement, 

Cagayan Ridge Seabird Banding and 

PMMRS Capacity Building for Marine 

Endangered Species Conservation.” 

Tubbataha Management Office, Sulu-

Sulawesi Seascape Project. 

and capacities need strengthening. 

Enhancement of the capability, 

accessibility and responsiveness of 

the judicial system and an improved 

coordinated intelligence for 

enforcement of environmental laws 

are likewise needed. 

Participants take part in various activities during the Advance Law Enforcement Training held 

in Calapan City

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