The 12th Celebrate the Sea Festival 2013 7 to 9 June, The Empire Hotel, Brunei Darussalam

There can’t be many dive sites that owe their existence to the direct intervention of the country’s president, but Tasi Tolu, on the outskirts of Timor Leste’s capital Dili, can claim that unique patronage.

Gillnet fishing has dramatically reduced the numbers of freshwater Irrawaddy dolphins over the last decades.

The dugong is threatened by extinction, but the Pacific Islands region support efforts to save the world’s largest remaining population of dugongs.

WWF and TRAFFIC recently released a new report that shows the need for a more concerted effort in managing shark fisheries in the Coral Triangle, to help conserve dwindling populations of these threatened species.

The juvenile salt-water crocodile was near to death when the small boy found it stranded in a swamp far from the sea. Although greatly afraid, the boy decided to try and save the crocodile and eventually managed to get it back to the sea where it quickly recovered.

Maluku Divers in Ambon, Indonesia has embarked on the exploration of the deeper and unexplored parts of Ambon Bay as part of an overall initiative to establish technical diving in the area where there at least 18 ships that have been registered as having sunk in the bay itself.

NOAA and Fish and Wildlife Service three years behind schedule on banning commercial fishing, according to the Marine Conservation Institute.

Taiwan to end pratice of shark finning, Reuters and Al-Jazeera reports

Innovative incentives and increased investment from the private sector are crucial for the long-term health of the Coral Triangle region and the millions of people that depend on the marine environment for their livelihoods, says WWF.