wild shores of singapore

A happy trip to Cyrene! The seagrasses appear to be making a come-back, meadows teaming with slugs and other curious critters.

The weather was awesome, company great as usual. What a lovely way to end the year.

Cyrene lies in the middle of the industrial triangle made up of the massive industries on Jurong Island, huge refineries on Pulau Bukom and the world-class container terminals at Pasir Panjang.

Despite its location, Cyrene Reef is full of amazing marine life. Among the most spectacular are the large Knobbly sea stars which are everywhere at our landing site.

Knobbly sea star in seagrass meadows of Cyrene Reef

On our trip Forskal's sidegill slugs were super abundant among the seagrass meadows just off Pasir Panjang Container Terminal.

Forskal's sidegill slug (Pleurobranchus forskalii)

This group of slugs got their name because they have one plume-like gill on one side of the body. I noticed those slugs that were out of water at low tide exposed this gill. To keep themselves cool?

Sidegill slugs are carnivorous and have strong jaws with a broad radula (ribbon of tiny teeth). Most feed on sponges, some also feed on hard corals and ascidians. Some even eat other slugs and fishes. We don't know what the Forskal's sidegill slugs eat. But it appears the slugs are eaten by sea turtles!

I only realised later that there were two of these slugs next to one another. The bigger one above the sand wasn't moving and jammed up next to it was a smaller one that was half buried in the sand (yellow circle). Are they mating? Sidegill slugs are hermaphrodites like most other slugs, each slug having both male and female reproductive organs. When they mate, they exchange sperm.

Among the seagrasses I saw some white egg ribbons that were probably laid by the slugs.

I also saw the Extraordinary sea hare. Sea hares have a pair of 'wings' or flaps (called parapodia). Some sea hares can swim by flapping their parapodia. Most sea hares have a shell, but this is reduced, thin and just under the skin.

Extraordinary sea hare (Aplysia extraordinaria)

We often see many and different kinds of Tailed slugs at Cyrene. Some tailed slugs are carnivores and eat their prey whole, crushing them with hard calcareous plates in the gizzard. Their prey include other slugs, flatworms, acoel flatworms and polychaete worms. Some have well developed structures to track down their prey by following the prey's mucous trail. Others are herbivores.

Among the special finds for me was this snail that I've not seen before. It was on the sand and it was burrowing. I don't know what it is.

Cyrene's broad sand bars have rarey snails like the Grey bonnet snail and Eggwhite moon snail that we rarely see on other shores.

Cyrene has among the best seagrass meadows in Singapore. And these teem with marine life. Here's a clip of some commonly seen creatures.

Creatures commonly seen in seagrass meadows, Cyrene Reef

How are the seagrasses doing at Cyrene?

I dread checking out the deep pool where Tape seagrasses used to be so lush that NParks could conduct regular surveys of the rarey fishes that live there. In 2010, the seagrasses drastically declined (together with general loss all over Cyrene) and the pool turned into a sandy one with hardly any seagrass. Finally, five years later, on this trip I was so relieved to see much more seagrasses growing in the deep pool.

Here's a look at the deep pool over the years, at its best and its sudden death. This is what the pool looked like in Jun 2009, with Jeff and Collin of NParks doing a survey of the abundant variety of fishesfound in the pool.

Aug 2010: The pool is still full of lush long Tape seagrass. In this photo, an NPark's team is gently doing a survey of the fishes that are found in the pool. More in this blog post.

May 2010: NParks continued their fish survey and found many different kinds here.

Nov 2010: The seagrasses at Cyrene were not doing well at all! Most of the Tape seagrass blades (Enhalus acoroides) were broken off very close to the sand surface. In the lagoon where NParks does their survey of pipefishes, there is virtually no more seagrasses. Previously the lagoon was thick with Tape seagrasses.

May 2012: It turned into a rather clear pool with the white sandy base showing, and no long Tape seagrasses. Although the Tape seagrasses are still there (but short) and there are some other kinds of seagrasses growing at the bottom, and especially at the shallower edges.

Mar 2012: The big pool which used to be full of long lush Tape seagrass remains bare of Tape seagrasses. But other seagrass species are growing on the sandy bottom.

Aug 2012: There are still lots of seagrasses at the edges of the pool. But in the deeper part of pool, it's very bare of seagrasses. Tape seagrasses here are still cropped short, with not much of other kinds of seagrasses.

Apr 2013: We checked the pool in the middle of the Reef and it's still rather bare. Although there are other kinds of seagrasses especially around the shallower edges, the Tape seagrasses here are still very short, even in deeper parts of the pool.

Aug 2015: Finally, five years later, on this trip I was so relieved to see much more seagrasses growing in the deep pool.

Although there are still bare sandy patches here and there, the Tape seagrasses appear to be growing longer.

This is what the pool looks like now (Dec 2015)! Hopefully, Tape seagrasses here will recover to their full length soon!

Here's a video of the seagrasses growing in the deep pool.

Seagrasses returning to deep pool on Cyrene?

It was a relief to see long Tape seagrasses both in seagrassy areas as well as more sandy areas. There were good growths of all the species of seagrasses seen here. Including Smooth ribbon seagrass.

I suspect the seagrasses are recovering because the massive reclamations nearby that have been going on for years have finally come to an end. For example, this is what the new Pasir Panjang Container Terminal extension looks like on our trip.

The Terminal is already in operation, the site no longer has huge heaps of uncovered sand.

This is what the Pasir Panjang Container Terminal extension looked like in Jan 2012 when I joined an NParks team to survey for impact of an oil spill.

This reclamation site is huge compared to to the natural shores of Sentosa, the wooded area on the horizon behind the pile of sand.

On that same trip, I also noticed reclamation going on at Jurong Island.

Let's hope there will be no more massive reclamations near our Southern shores in the future.

It's only possible to visit Cyrene (and our many other submerged reefs) with the support and care of Alex and his crew at Summit Marine.

Shore explorers do amphibious landing at Cyrene Reef

There are few low spring tides early in the new year. So we will get to rest for a bit before the crazy predawn trips start in 2016.

Photos by others on this trip

Juria Toramae on facebook.
Russel Low on facebook.
Loh Kok Sheng on his blog.
Marcus Ng and Nicole Wong on facebook.
Richard Kuah on facebook.

People's Association responded promptly on facebook to worries about news that 8,000 'sky lanterns' (helium balloons) would be 'launched'. They assured that "The Sky Lanterns are performance props and not meant to be released into the sky.

Channel News Asia article, 7 Jan 16

"These lanterns will be reused and exhibited at the PAssionArts Festival 2016 and community events such as National Day Celebrations after Chingay 2016. After that, they will be handed over to a recycling firm approved by NEA to be responsibly recycled. The proceeds from the recycling will go towards charity."

According to media reports: "Themed “Lights of Legacy, Brighter Singapore”, the annual Chingay Parade will be held on Feb 19 and 20 at the F1 Pit Building in the Marina Bay area. Featuring 8,000 performers and 50 parade contingents, it is set to be the biggest ever full-scale illuminated show in the parade’s 44-year history."

During Chingay 2011, there were also plans involving 4,000 sky lanterns. Although the sky lanterns were apparently not intended for release, comments by those who attended suggested that many were indeed released.

We can only hope that the People's Association will indeed do their best to make sure none of the 8,000 'Sky Lanterns' escape into the sky.

PA's response on their facebook page, 8 Jan 2016.

PA's response to questions and comments by the public on their post about the 'Sky Lanterns', 8 Jan 2016.

PA's reply to an email by Olivia Choong shared by her on facebook.

Related links

Chingay 2016’s 8000 balloons not meant to be released into the sky The Online Citizen 8 Jan 16;
8,000 lanterns to light up the sky at Chingay 2016 This year’s parade will feature sky lanterns, a 66-metre “flying” LED dragon, aerial performances and the biggest full-scale illuminated show ever performed in Chingay. Shivaanan Selvasevaran Channel NewsAsia 7 Jan 16;

My first survey of the northern shore of Chek Jawa in three years. Wow, there has been a lot of changes.

The northern sand bar seems to be moving southwards and lush seagrasses forming on its northern edge.

My last trip here was with TeamSeagrass in Jan 2013. I was surprised to see broad seagrass meadows on the northern edge of the sand bar facing Johor! The sand bar appears to have moved southwards. Here's a video of the view.

The sand bar itself is still there but now ringed with seagrass meadows at mid tide, except at its eastern tip. Here's a video of the view.

The sandy shores are still very much alive! There were lots of signs of Sand bubbler crabs, Soldier crabs, Acorn worms, Straw tubeworms. And many prints of shore birds. Hermit crabs of all kinds were also common. Although we failed to find any living Button snails here.

Typical sandy shore creatures at north Chek Jawa

I only saw one Plain sand star with broken arms, but plenty of Cake sand dollars. Kok Sheng found two and Chay Hoon saw one Common sand star which are no longer common on Chek Jawa since the mass deaths of 2007. The team also saw some Biscuit sea stars and a Painted sand star.

It's good to see common animals on Chek Jawa, such as the Gong gong snail, Ball moon snail, Weasel olive snail. There were also many Noble volutes, some laying eggs, and a Tiger moon snail. A special mollusc found by Kok Sheng is the Watering pot shell. Also an uprooted Spiky sea fan. And Jonathan and Sankar found a bunch of cephalopod eggs! These are black when the eggs are still developing and turn transparent just before the babies hatch. Kok Sheng saw a Pygmy squid. There were many moults of small Flower crabs. The team also saw Stone crabs and snapping shrimps.

In 2007, there was mass deaths of Haddon's carpet anemones and other animals at Chek Jawa. This is believed to be due to heavy rainfall as marine life can't cope well with too much freshwater. There are now plenty of Haddon's carpet anemones of all colours and sizes on the seagrass meadows. None of them were bleaching although some were pale. These animals eat all kinds of other animals. I saw one with a crab in its mouth, and another with several sand dollar skeletons nearby. There were also many Common cerianthids.

There were also many Garlic bread sea cucumbers, some of them nestled under the carpet anemones. Other animals found near the anemones include Ball sea cucumbers and Solitary tubeworms. The other anemone commonly seen were Big hermit-hitching anemones.

There were many small Warty pink sea cucumbers, and some small Thorny sea cucumbers. Also one Beige sea cucumber. Sankar saw an Orange sea cucumber.

The rest of the team spotted fishes such as the Slender sea moth, Kite butterflyfish and Shadow goby. They also saw a Mangrove horseshoe crab.

The seagrasses are growing lush at the northern edge as well as in the middle of the Chek Jawa lagoon. Spoon seagrass covered large areas, as well as Needle seagrass. I also saw some Fern seagrass. The sand bar near the pontoon has moved westward towards the boardwalk and is surrounded by lush seagrass meadows including lots of Smooth ribbon seagrasses. But I couldn't find any Beccari's seagrass in the north or in the middle near the boardwalk pontoon.

Much of the seagrasses in both the northern edge and middle of the lagoon were covered with black scummy growths. Cyanobacteria?

A closer look at the black scummy growths. Kok Sheng saw what seems like dugong feeding trails.

Mangroves fringe the route to the northern shoreline of Chek Jawa. The trees were doing well, although some were being buried in sand.

At the same time, there is a great deal of erosion on other parts of the shore with trees falling over both towards the sea and towards the land. Under this tree, at the red arrow is what looks like a tiny shrub of the very rare Critically Endangered Mentigi (Pemphis acidula).

Here's the bush under the fallen tree.

A closer look at the bush. It wasn't flowering or fruiting. The last time we saw a Mentigi bush here was in Jan 2011. It was a much bigger bush and might be a different one from this.

On the rocky shore near the boardwalk, the Critically Endangered Delek air (Memecylon edule) is fruiting.

I had a closer look at the area where the Security Barrier aka fence around the northern shore of Pulau Ubin starts.

Right at the fence, there was a big pile of trash that looks like they were dumped there. Because I know barbed wire doesn't float.

There is also a lot of other trash on the high shore that looks like they might have floated over.

On the tip of the northern sand bar facing the Johor River, there was hardly any trash washing up. Only natural flotsam of mangrove leaves, fruits and flowers.

The water in the Johor Strait looked alright. Usually, if the churn looks like teh-o then there is probably a plankton bloom going on.

We were treated to a beautiful sunset as we headed home.

Thanks to NParks for permission to survey this shore and keep tabs on how it is doing.

Photos by others on this survey

Loh Kok Sheng on facebook and his blog.
Jianlin Liu on facebook.
Marcus Ng on facebook.
Toh Chay Hoon on facebook.
Sankar on facebook.
Jonathan Tan on facebook.
Rebecca Loh on facebook.
Dayna on facebook.
Juria Toramae on facebook.
Lisa Lim on facebook.

This artificial shore is teeming with marine life. The seawalls at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal is encrusted with living reefs full of corals and reef life. Seagrasses have settled naturally on the artificial sandy shores behind the seawalls.

An amazing coral reef has settled naturally
on the seawalls at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, Jun 2013.

We no longer regularly survey these sites because the shores near Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal are now off limits and trespassers will be arrested, such as this incident in Nov 2013. We require a permit to do our surveys so these are done only once a year now. The works started in Oct 2015 and there were signs in Mar 2015 that this shore might be impacted by coastal works. There are also signs that the area near the SAF Yacht Club may be affected by development.

CONSTRUCTION OF JETTIES AT TANAH MERAH STAGING GROUND
from PORT MARINE NOTICE NO. 04 OF 2016 dated 04 Jan 2016

This is a revision of Port Marine Notice No. 115 of 2015 (below). The working period has been extended and the list of craft has been revised.

Date : With effect from 01 Feb 2016 to 01 Aug 2016.
Location : At Tanah Merah Staging Ground, within the working area bounded by the following co-ordinates (see attached chartlet):

24 hours daily including Sundays and Public Holidays. The construction of jetties will include reclamation work, installation of concrete blocks, laying of geotextile, sand bedding and leveling works. Safety boats will be deployed in the vicinity to warn other craft about the work. Further enquires relating to the project can be directed to Mr Kim Joong Hyun, Senior Planning Engineer at Tel: 9729-3457 (email: kimjh10@hdec.co.kr).

CONSTRUCTION OF JETTIES AND DEPLOYMENT OF ACOUSTIC DOPPLER CURRENT PROFILER (ADCP) AT TANAH MERAH STAGING GROUND
from PORT MARINE NOTICE NO. 115 OF 2015 dated 23 Sep 2015

Date : With effect from 12 Oct 2015 to 31 Jan 2016.
Location : At Tanah Merah Staging Ground, within the working area bounded by the following co-ordinates (see attached chartlet):

24 hours daily including Sundays and Public Holidays. The construction of jetties will include reclamation work, installation of concrete blocks, laying of geotextile, sand bedding and leveling works. The deployment of ADCP will be carried out by divers. A safety boat will be deployed in the vicinity to warn other craft about the work. Further enquires relating to the project can be directed to Mr Kim Joong Hyun, Senior Planning Engineer at Tel: 9729-3457 (email: kimjh10@hdec.co.kr).

SOIL INVESTIGATION WORK OFF CHANGI EAST
from PORT MARINE NOTICE NO. 148 OF 2015 dated 22 Dec 2015

Date : With effect from 23 Dec 2015 to 23 Apr 2016.
Location : Off Changi East, within the working areas at following co-ordinates (see attached chartlet):

24 hours daily including Sundays and Public Holidays. Soil investigation work will be carried out by drilling and sampling using jack-up barges. Tug boats will be used to move the jack-up barges. The safety zone is a circular area of 30m radius centred at the borehole. Safety boats will be deployed in the vicinity to warn other craft about the work. Further enquires relating to the project can be directed to Mr Aneesh Kulakkunath, Project Manager at Tel: 8268-8171 (email: aneesh@soilinvestigation.com.sg).

What marine life can be found at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal shores?

A coral reef has settled naturally on the seawalls at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. The reef has a good variety of species and survived the massive 2010 oil spill. More about this reef and other reef life that have settled on artificial structures in Singapore.

A rich reef growing naturally at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, Jun 2013

Seagrass meadows have settled naturally inside the Tanah Merah artificial lagoon including seagrass species so far found only at Chek Jawa and Cyrene Reef. Seagrass were also seen on artificial shores at East Coast Park. More about these seagrasses and other seagrasses that have settled on artificial shores in Singapore.

Lush seagrasses with Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal
on the horizon. May 2013.

A view of the large seagrass patch in May 2014.

Otters have also been sighted at Tanah Merah's artificial shores.

Otters seen at Tanah Merah, Jun 2013.
Photo by Koh Kwan Siong on facebook.

Construction for regeneration?

Wouldn't it be wonderful if coastal construction can be done so as to allow natural regeneration? Here's more about my wacky ideas for a Singapore Great Barrier Reef.

2 Feb is World Wetlands Day and in 2016, the theme is "Wetlands for our Future: Sustainable Livelihoods". In Singapore, celebrate wetlands early at Sungei Buloh's World Wetlands Day celebrations on 30 Jan (Sat) with special talks and walks.

Kids exploring mangroves with the Naked Hermit Crabs

What is World Wetlands Day and how is it relevant to urban Singapore?

How is World Wetlands Day relevant to urban Singapore?

Livelihoods from fishing, rice farming, travel, tourism, and water provision all depend on wetlands. And wetlands are vital to us in many other ways. They host a huge variety of life, protect our coastlines, provide natural sponges against river flooding, and store carbon dioxide to regulate climate change. Check out the World Wetlands Day 2016 site for teachers guides and other materials.

What is World Wetlands Day about?

From the RAMSAR website

World Wetlands Day marks the date of the signing of the Convention on Wetlands on 2 February 1971, in the Iranian city of Ramsar; thus also called the Ramsar Convention.

Each year, government agencies, non-governmental organizations, and groups of citizens at all levels of the community take this opportunity to raise public awareness of wetland values and benefits in general and the Ramsar Convention in particular.

What is the Ramsar Convention?

The Ramsar Convention's mission is "the conservation and wise use of all wetlands through local and national actions and international cooperation, as a contribution towards achieving sustainable development throughout the world".

What are the criteria for classifying Ramsar sites?
from the Ramsar website

Contains rare or unique example of a natural or near-natural wetlands
Supports vulnerable, endangered, or critically endangered species.
Supports populations important for the biological diversity of the region.
Supports species at a critical stage in their life cycles, or provides refuge during adverse conditions.
Regularly supports 20,000 or more waterbirds.
Supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of waterbird.
Supports a significant proportion of indigenous fish subspecies.
An mportant source of food for fishes, spawning ground, nursery and/or migration path on which fish stocks, either within the wetland or elsewhere, depend.
Regularly supports 1% of the individuals in a population of one species or subspecies of wetland-dependent non-avian animal species.

What is the status of the Ramsar convention?
From the Ramsar websiteNumber of Contracting Parties: over 160
Number of sites designated for the Ramsar List: 2,200
Total surface area: 214,250,306 hectares

Does Singapore have a Ramsar site?
Sadly, Singapore is not listed as a Contracting Party and has no designated Ramsar site.

But Singapore is right next to three of the four Ramsar sites on the Malay Peninsula!

from the Ramsar website these are Pulau Kukup, Sungai Pulai and Tanjung Piai. Sadly, these sites are currently facing some threats.

Pulau Kukup: An uninhabited mangrove island, it is one of the few intact sites of this type left in southeast Asia. The wetland supports such species as the Flying Fox Pteropus vampyrus, Smooth OtterLutra perspicillata, Bearded Pig Sus barbatus, Long-tailed MacaqueMacaca fascicularis, all listed as threatened, vulnerable or near-threatened under the IUCN Red Book. Pulau Kukup has been identified as one of the Important Bird Areas (IBA) for Malaysia. Globally vulnerable Lesser Adjutant Leptoptilos javanicus chooses this as a stop-over and breeding ground.

Pulau Kukup is important for flood control, physical protection (e.g. as a wind-breaker), and shoreline stabilization as it shelters the mainland town from severe storm events. The coastal straits between Pulau Kukup and the mainland are a thriving industry for marine cage culture. The mudflats are rich with shellfish and provide food and income to local people. Tourism is another use of the island and the government has further plans to promote ecotourism.

Sungai Pulai: The largest riverine mangrove system in Johor State, located at the estuary of the Sungai Pulai river. With its associated seagrass beds, intertidal mudflats and inland freshwater riverine forest the site represents one of the best examples of a lowland tropical river basin, supporting a rich biodiversity dependent on mangrove. It is home for the rare and endemic small tree Avicennia lanata, animals such as near-threatened and vulnerable Long-tailed Macaque, Smooth Otter and rare Flat-headed Cat and threatened birds species as Mangrove Pitta and Mangrove Blue Flycatcher, all included in the IUCN Red List. Relatively undisturbed parts including the Nipah swamps may be nesting sites of the Estuarine Crocodile.

The site fringes play a significant role in shoreline stabilization and severe flood prevention in the adjacent 38 villages. The local population depends on the estuary as its mudflats, an ideal feeding, spawning and fattening ground, support a significant proportion of fish species. Other mangrove uses include wood cutting, charcoal production, aquaculture activities and eco-tourism.

The current construction of a new port at the river estuary may represent a direct impact on the mangrove ecosystem, causing coastal erosion and water pollution from associated dredging and reclamation works and traffic. The site is managed in line with Integrated Management Plan for the sustainable use of mangroves in Johor state.

Tanjung Piai: The site consists of coastal mangroves and intertidal mudflats located at the southernmost tip of continental Asia, especially important for protection from sea-water intrusion and coastal erosion. Tanjung Piai supports many threatened and vulnerable wetland-dependent species such as Pig-tailed Macaque and Long-tailed Macaque, birds like Mangrove Pitta, Mangrove Blue Flycatcher, Mangrove Whistler. Globally vulnerable Lesser Adjutant may be observed in the vicinity of the site. The Scaly Anteater, Common Porcupine, Smooth Otter and Bearded Pig are classified as vulnerable or near threatened listed in the IUCN Red Book 2000.

Waters of the four main rivers traversing Tanjung Piai are abundant with commercially valuable species. The site enjoys the status of a State Park for eco-tourism -- a visitor centre with boardwalks near the southern tip of the park provides interpretive materials, guided walks, and overnight facilities, with a World Wetlands Day programme beginning in 2003.

Due to increased sea traffic, the western side of Tanjung Piai has been affected by oil spills which caused natural erosion processes in nearly 70 ha of the mangrove forest. In addition, the new port being established in the estuary of Sungai Pulai will likely lead to increased wave energy reaching the east shore of Tanjung Piai, thus accelerating coastal erosion.

There is a narrow sliver of natural mangroves at Punggol near Punggol Jetty and Coney Island. Today, I noticed a layer of bright orange clay coated the area as far as I could see from the roadside.

I've reported this to NEA and NParks. I'll update any responses from them in this blog post.

I expect clay can't be good for mangroves as they may affect the tree roots' ability to absorb nutrients and oxygen? As the clay reaches the shore at Punggol and Coney Island, will it also affect the water quality there?

The mangroves grow along the waterway marked with the yellow line. I noticed a bright orange clay trail in the drain to the west (red line) of Punggol Road. While the water in the drain to the east (blue line) was normal, no bright orange clay trail.

The clay appears to be coming from the drains leading to the mangroves.

I noticed the mangrovey area to the west of Punggol Road is also covered in clay.

A closer look at the clay on the western side of the road.

Here's bus stop 65121 which is closest to the mangrove area. There is clearly a bright orange clay trail on the western drain along the road, draining north towards the mangroves.

Closer look at the bus stop.

A large area which appears to be bare clay, surrounded by green hoarding lacking any information about what works is going and who is in charge. I thought such signage are required on all work sites? I couldn't get a photo of the works behind the hoarding, but got a glimpse driving down the road. The red arrow marks the point where the bright orange clay trail starts in the western drain.

Here's a look at the drain the western side of the road. The photo of the left facing north, red arrow showing were the bright orange clay trail starts. The photo of the right facing south, red arrow showing were the bright orange clay trail starts.

The drain on the eastern side of the road is normal, no bright orange clay.

In Aug 2015, I was already worried that plans for the Singapore Institute of Technology (SIT) may affect the Punggol mangroves.

Graphic from the Straits Times 24 Aug 2015

Overlaying the graphic on Google Earth, it appears there will be new roads (blue). The northern road appears to cut close to a tiny sliver of wild mangroves there (yellow dot). I last visited this mangrove patch in Feb 2011.

I do hope something will be done soon to stop the clay from smothering the Punggol mangroves.

This is one example of an activity that impacts the quality of water in the Johor Strait. I saw this on my way back from checking up on black water at Punggol Jetty.

The water around Punggol Jetty is black! Checks suggest the water at Pasir Ris and Pulau Ubin still seem alright.

While I didn't come across many dead fishes, there were signs of many issues affecting water quality. From trash to coastal works. Please help me monitor the situation and let me know if you see any dead fishes.

Dead Fish Alert!

Please help me monitor dead fishes washing up on the Johor Straits. Please let me know if you see large numbers (more than 20) especially of large dead fishes (more than 20cm long) washing up on the northern shores such as Pulau Ubin, Lim Chu Kang, Sungei Buloh, Kranji, Sembawang, Punggol, Pasir Ris, Changi.

Thank you!

A closer look at the water from Punggol Jetty. It is like kopi-O, clear but black. With a layer of fine scum. Possibly palm oil waste? The water didn't smell good, a mild rotting smell.

I walked a short part of the shore and only saw this small dead fish.

And a small Tripodfish.

I noticed grey patches on many of the rocks.

Closer look at a grey patch. It felt crumbly and slimy. It reminds me of the patches of sponges that 'melted' during the mass deaths at Chek Jawa in 2007. On my last low tide survey of this shore in May 2015, we saw a lot of colourful marine life.

Some larger pieces of palm oil waste also washed up on the shore.

Other trash on the shore includes this bag that used to contain 'Feed Additives'.

A part of a TV on the shore. Did it wash up or was it dumped here? More about the issue of trash on our northern shores here.

This recreational shore is cleaned by an army of cheerful and dedicated cleaners. I chatted with one and he said he did not see any dead fishes today.

Despite the black water, there were a few people fishing on the jetty. I spoke to a fisherman and he said he didn't see many dead fishes. He attributed the black water to the recent rain.

From Punggol Jetty, I could see signs of activities that affect the water quality here.

Next to Punggol Jetty is Punggol Timor Island which has many heavy industries. Thanks to Jerome Lim's post on his blog, I learned that this must be Punggol Timor and Punggol Barat islands, which are reclaimed shores. These are now used to store mountains of sand and mountains of aggregates.

At Punggol Timor, there were barges loaded with what looks like granite or sand.

As well as dorms for foreign workers and what looks like cement making facilities.

As usual, there was a line of small sampans laying fishing nets in the Johor Strait off Punggol Jetty.

A closer look at this group of people attending to a long fishing net.

On the way back, I noticed the narrow sliver of natural mangroves at Punggol was coated in a layer of bright orange clay. More in this separate blog post.

Pasir Ris ok so far?

I also made a quick stop at Pasir Ris Park, where the water quality looks much better. The water is clear and not even the colour of teh-O.

But a blog reader had sent these photos of the water at Pasir Ris today, with a few dead wild fishes.

This is believed to be a dead wild baraccuda.

There was a lot of people at Pasir Ris. Behind them, a huge crane on a barge near the line of 'Blue Drums' security barrier.

A closer look at the crane-barge. I saw this in Dec 2015 when I was also checking for dead fishes.

The crane-barge is quite close to a floating fish farm.

There were also many people kayaking and doing sea sports in the water.

The large group of people appear to be from an international school. Will these people be informed if there is a fish-killing plankton bloom in the water?

Pulau Ubin ok so far?

Thanks to another blog reader, this photo from the bumboat going home from Pulau Ubin today. The water colour looks ok.

You CAN make a difference: Dead Fish Alert!

Please help me monitor dead fishes washing up on the Johor Straits. Please let me know if you see large numbers (more than 20) especially of large dead fishes (more than 20cm long) washing up on the northern shores such as Pulau Ubin, Lim Chu Kang, Sungei Buloh, Kranji, Sembawang, Punggol, Pasir Ris, Changi.

Thank you!

A glorious crispy blue sky on a windy day as we head out to check up on eastern Pulau Semakau.

This natural shore has lots of Magnificent anemones and other reeflife! It was a relief that we didn't see coral bleaching on the shore.

On this trip, Kok Sheng has a plan to get us to explore this shore more thoroughly by landing at a new spot. Our last trip here was in July 2015.

First off the boat are the tall people and people who suffer from sea sickness. We know it's a special trip when we get wet underpants.

Photo by Loh Kok Sheng.

Then the short people. Since I walk with a walking stick, it turned out I was the steadiest of the lot! Some people, instead of helping, are taking unglam photos of us. Because it was so windy, we got totally soaked on the way back at the end of the trip.

Photo by Geraldine Lee.

This shore lies just opposite the petrochemical plants on Pulau Bukom.

Despite this, there are corals and reef life here.

Here's a glimpse of the shore.

This shore is simply exploding with Magnificent sea anemones. There appear to be even more now here than I saw on our last trip in July 2015!

Magnificent sea anemone (Heteractis magnifica) at Pulau Semakau

The most delightful encounter was with a Clown anemonefish in a Giant sea anemone!

False clown anemonefishes (Amphiprion ocellaris) in Giant carpet anemone (Stichodactyla gigantea)

I wonder though, why none of the Magnificent anemones I saw had a clown anemonefish?

With so much news these days about changing climate, from freezing in China, huge snowfalls in Washington DC, I worry about coral bleaching and other climate impacts on our shores. The outlook for Jan-Apr 2016 by the NOAA is horrifying!

Fortunately, the actual bleaching status for Singapore is still ok. We are not in the Watch zone (yet?).

I did come across some soft corals that were 'neon' in colour. Many of the Asparagus flowery soft corals I saw were neon pink and green. I saw one green leathery soft coral and one small patch of zoanthids that were neon green. Are these colours a sign of stress?

I only saw a few corals with small patches of bleaching. I did not come across any that were completely bleaching.

Most of the hard corals I saw were normal. Including many Cauliflower corals, which were the first to bleach previously.

This is the bleaching I saw on this shore in June 2010, taken from Terumbu Semakau. I hope this doesn't happen again this year!

On the way out for our trip, we admire the reef fishes among the corals growing on the sides of the pontoon at Marina at Keppel Bay!

The corals growing at the Marina were all doing well. I didn't see any that were bleaching.

I see these Posy sea anemones more commonly in the North. But I often see these on this part of Pulau Semakau. Perhaps this is because this shore is fringed by mangroves? So much more to learn about our shores!

I saw a few clumps of Tape seagrass, most were cropped. And the upper shore was sprinkled with Spoon seagrasses with tiny leaf blades.

Pulau Semakau is NOT the same as the Semakau Landfill. The Landfill was created by destroying all of Pulau Saking, and about half of the original Pulau Semakau by building a very long seawall. Fortunately, the landfill was constructed and is managed in such a way that the original mangroves, seagrass meadows and reefs on Pulau Semakau were allowed to remain. The eastern shore of Pulau Semakau is right next to the seawall of the Semakau Landfill, opposite the petrochemical plants on Pulau Bukom.

It is NOT true that the construction of the Landfill created the marine life found on Pulau Semakau. The marine life was there long before the Landfill was built.

As the existing half of the Landfill was used up, the Phase 2 of the Landfill was just recently launched. This involved closing the gap of the seawall on the Semakau Landfill, forming one big pool where incinerated ash will be dumped. NEA worked to limit the damage to natural shores during the construction work for this expansion of the landfill.

The 2030 Landuse Plan by the Ministry of National Development released in Jan 2013 shows plans for 'possible future reclamation' (in light blue surrounded by dotted lines) that may impact the eastern shore of Pulau Semakau. More about the possible impact of the 2030 Landuse Plan on our shores.

Click on image for larger view.

Let's hope these shore will be spared this fate.

It's sunset and almost time to go home! Here's a view of eastern Semakau shore with the Semakau Landfill wall and Transfer Station on the horizon.

Let's hope this shore stays safe until we visit again.

Photos by others on this trip

Loh Kok Sheng on facebook.
Marcus Ng on facebook.
Geraldine Lee on facebook.
Jonathan Tan on facebook.
Richard Kuah on facebook.
Lisa Lim on facebook.

A lovely blue sky day exploring a small lagoon at Pulau Ubin next to Outward Bound Singapore yesterday. I last visited this shore in Jun 2008, when its lush seagrass meadows reminded me of Chek Jawa.

Alas, we didn't see any signs of seagrasses on this trip. What has happened here? I looked more closely at my old photos of this shore to see what might have changed.

Thanks to the kind invitation of Alex Tan of OBS, the regular team had a chance to visit this 'mini-Chek Jawa next to their facilities on Pulau Ubin.

Alex had gathered some OBS colleagues who stayed back to explore the sea shore with us. We are touched! Thanks to Marcus Ng, the expert on our island histories, we got an introduction to some of the key historical aspects of Pulau Ubin.

Thanks also to Phillip Lim, who runs a fish farm off Pulau Ubin, for sharing his wisdom about the ecology and creatures to be found in our waters. From crabs to clams, to plankton blooms and more.

The rest of the survey team also helped to set up 'stations' to explain interesting marine life found on this shore. Here is Lisa Lim, sharing about the intriguing snails that laid the egg capsules we saw earlier on our walk.

As we make our way to the sand bar near the mouth of the lagoon, more 'stations' have been prepared.

Here is Loh Kok Sheng sharing about the sand star and rock stars that are found on the shore.

Here's Jonathan sharing about crab moults and other interesting critters. We saw swimming crabs, stone crabs and porcelain crabs. Many tiny hermit crabs and the Blue striped hermit crab. Thanks also to Richard Kuah.

Nicholas Yap had found 'Bill' a yet-to-be-identified large sea anemone. We also saw several Spiral babylonia snails and the black eggs of some kind of sotong. Later on, an octopus was found on the way home!

Where have the seagrasses gone?

I was most dismayed to learn that there are probably zero seagrasses anywhere in the lagoon. We didn't see any growing or even any seagrass bits being washed up on the shore.

There are still many Haddon's carpet anemones on the sand bar at the mouth of the lagoon, but no seagrasses.

The lagoon is instead mostly covered with a thick layer of soft anoxic mud.

Here's a brief pano from the centre of the lagoon.

Lagoon next to Outward Bound Singapore (OBS), Pulau Ubin

March 2008

My first trip to this shore was in March 2008, at a not-so-low tide. The tides appear similar as our trip yesterday.

Most the lagoon was still submerged.

A glimpse of the western shore of the lagoon.

The inner lagoon was covered in seagrasses!

We saw a sea horse during that trip!

June 2008

This was my second trip to this shore. The tide was a lot lower and I saw a lagoon full of seagrasses with marine life commonly seen at Chek Jawa. The lower tide exposed seagrasses growing even in the area near OBS. Perhaps the seagrasses are still on this shore but are in deeper water? We do hope to return on a lower spring tide to check up on this.

Another view eastwards of the seagrasses growing on the lower shore.

As we approached the lagoon, a view of the seagrasses towards OBS Camp 2 jetty.

A view of the seagrasses looking westwards towards OBS.

A view of the lagoon towards the east.

A view of the lagoon towards the west.

A view of the lagoon towards the east.

Seagrasses at the sand bar at the mouth of the lagoon.

There were seagrasses all around the sand bar at the mouth of the lagoon.

A view of seagrasses with Haddon's carpet anemones towards OBS Camp 2 jetty.

The rocks had clumps of colourful sponges. We did see some but not a lot of sponges our trip yesterday. But we haven't been seeing sponges on our Northern shores since around 2014.

In the seagrass meadows, there were the usual animals we commonly encounter at Chek Jawa.

There was even a Spearer mantis shrimp.

March 2013

Looking back, I realise the decline was probably already happening during my third visit to this lagoon. I was there for the Mega Marine Survey's mini-expedition with some volunteers so I didn't really pay attention to the shoreline.

But looking at the photos with new eyes, the large Perepat mangrove tree that dominated the western shore in Mar 2013 was no longer there yesterday.

And there didn't seem to be as much erosion on the western shore in March 2013.

There were not much seagrasses during that trip.

What has changed in Jan 2016?

Yesterday, I noticed a great deal of erosion on the western shore of the bay. With large coastal forest trees falling onto the shore.

The erosion extends a fair distance before the shore becomes a sandy slope on what looks like an old prawn-pond bund. Behind the bund there are thick mangroves.

The mangrove trees growing outside the bund are facing severe erosion.

Erosion is a serious problem on Pulau Ubin. Destroying ecosystems that provide important services such as providing good water quality so important for fish farmers (like Phillip Lim), recreational users (like OBS) and nature lovers (like us). It is thus so fitting that we were together on the shore yesterday to learn and share.

Another exciting collaboration of stakeholders for Pulau Ubin's ecosystems is the Restore Ubin Mangroves (R.U.M.) Initiative which hopes to give Mother Nature a hand in planting mangroves back in areas abandoned aquaculture ponds in Pulau Ubin.

Fortunately, the water at Punggol Jetty was no longer black, like it was on 20 Jan 2016. But we are now in a critical time of the year when plankton blooms are likely to occur, killing farmed and wild fishes and affect marine ecosystems. The spring tides help to flush the water, but these ended yesterday. The risk of a plankton bloom will rise until the next spring tides which occur during Lunar New Year.

Things are not quite right in the Johor Strait. I need your help to keep an eye on it.

Dead Fish Alert!

Please help me monitor dead fishes washing up on the Johor Straits. Please let me know if you see large numbers (more than 20) especially of large dead fishes (more than 20cm long) washing up on the northern shores such as Pulau Ubin, Lim Chu Kang, Sungei Buloh, Kranji, Sembawang, Punggol, Pasir Ris, Changi.

Thank you!

Photos by others on this trip

Marcus Ng on facebook.
Loh Kok Sheng on facebook.
Lisa Lim on facebook.

The southern part of Pulau Semakau lies next to the Semakau Landfill. We checked it out yesterday during a not-so-low tide.

We saw lots of sea hares, many Giant carpet anemones as well and checked on the seagrasses and coral bleaching. But the highlight of the trip for me were the many gentle friendly Dog-faced water snakes that were out and about in the overcast gloomy afternoon. These snakes are usually only more active at night.

Here's a video clip showing why its good to have protruding eyes if you are a water snake.

Dog-faced water snake, Schneider's Bockadam (Cerberus schneiderii)

Russel found this lovely Orange sand star. It has a bright orange underside. There were also many Common sea stars. Kok Sheng also found all kinds of other beautiful and interesting sea stars.

There were also many Garlic bread sea cucumbers, most of them small, very few medium sized. I saw one Durian sea cucumber and one Long black sea cucumber. Nick found the special Brown sea cucumber.

There were also some very long lumpy Big synaptid sea cucumbers.

Big synaptid sea cucumber (Family Synaptidae)

Pulau Semakau is one of the few places where we can commonly see the Upside-down jellyfish.

This little Hairy crab was clutching a clam and scuttled into a hole with it.

Common hairy crab (Pilumnus vespertilio)

As the tide wasn't very low and the water was murky, we couldn't go to the reef edge. But the few corals I did see were not really bleaching.

Most of the Giant carpet anemones were OK. I didn't come across any anemonefishes, although some of them had anemone shrimps. Most of the Frilly sea anemones were OK too.

But I saw a few Giant carpet anemones and Frilly sea anemones that were very pale or yellowish, probably starting to bleach?

On the way to the shore, I noticed the corals growing on the side of the Marina at Keppel Bay were still alright.

Alas, I did not see any long Tape seagrass. Most of them were still cropped short, not much different from our last trip here in July 2015.

Spoon seagrasses with small leaf blades covered much of the area, with patches of other seagrasses like Noodle seagrass and others with ribbon like leaf blades.

There were also many small clumps of this Fuzzy green seaweed.

The large dead tree in the mangroves is starting to fall apart. The seagrasses are covered with lots of brown fluffy stuff. Which is probably why there were so many sea hares on the shore today? Because sea hares are said to eat such growths.

Here's a video clip of the fluffy stuff.

The sea hares were hunkered down in the mud to keep wet during the low tide. Many were in pairs. It turned out that there were two kinds of sea hares on the shore!

One of the sea hares is the Black-tailed sea hare with has a black tip on its foot and has many eye-shaped spots on its body. The inside of its flappy 'wings' are dark with large white spots.

Here's a video clip of the Black-tailed sea hare.

Black tailed sea hare (Aplysia dactylomela)

The other kind of sea hare was the Extraordinary sea hare which has small spots all over its body. The inside of its flappy 'wings' are dark with white blotchy bars.

Here's a video clip of the Extraordinary sea hare.

On the sand bar there were signs of burrowing crabs. And also of Olive snails.

Very close to this shore is Singapore's only southern fish farm which is said to be the largest fish farm in Singapore.

We have noticed many disturbing impacts of this fish farm on the natural shores of Pulau Semakau, see the post after our trip on Aug 2014. Yesterday, we saw some signs of impact. I'll share the details in a separate blog post.

It is NOT true that the construction of the Landfill created the marine life found on Pulau Semakau. The marine life was there long before the Landfill was built.

Loh Kok Sheng on his blog.
Juria Toramae on facebook.
Jianlin Liu on facebook.
Heng Pei Yan on facebook.
Sg Beachbum's blog.
Chay Hoon on facebook.
Russel Low on facebook.

Lunar New Year follows the lunar cycle. So of course there is a low spring tide on Day 1 and Day 2 of every Lunar New Year. Thus, we have an excuse to escape our relatives and visit a shore instead!

Yesterday, we surveyed Cyrene Reef on a cool overcast afternoon. Although it is very close to major industrial areas in Singapore, this submerged reef has some of Singapore's best seagrass meadows and amazing marine biodiversity. How are the seagrasses doing? Are there signs of coral bleaching?

Cyrene lies in the middle of the industrial triangle made up of the massive industries on Jurong Island, huge refineries on Pulau Bukom and the world-class container terminals at Pasir Panjang.

Despite its location, Cyrene has lush seagrass meadows teeming with life! Cyrene is particularly famous for its population of Knobbly sea stars. It is one of the few shores in Singapore where we can commonly see both adult and baby Knobbly sea stars. Lisa also saw one Pentaceraster sea star.

Baby Knobbly sea star (Protoreaster nodosus)

Here's a glimpse at some of the creatures commonly seen here: from tiny Thorny sea urchins to slugs and large hermit crabs.

And a glimpse at Mrs and Mr Anemone shrimp! Often a pair of these Five-spot anemone shrimps can be found in these anemones.

Five-spot anemone shrimp (Periclimenes brevicarpalis) on Haddon's carpet anemone (Stichodactyla haddoni)

Among the interesting creatures was a tiny Broadclub cuttlefish!

The explosion of Forskal's sidegill slugs that we saw on our last trip here in Dec 2015 seems to be over. Although I still saw a few small individuals and their egg ribbons.

The sandy shores of Cyrene are also teeming with life. These include some rare snails like the Grey bonnet snail and Orange-mouth olive snail. There were still lots of Common sea stars and Cake sand dollars everywhere on the sandy shores.

Rare snails on the sandy shores of Cyrene Reef

I found this little Tailed-slug on the sand bar. When I put it into the water, it immediately started to burrow into the sand! I didn't know it could do that.

Reticulated tailed slug (Philinopsis reticulata)

The brittle star is among the most energetic of echinoderms and can move rapidly using its sinuous arms.

How are the seagrasses of Cyrene doing?

On our last trip here in Dec 2015, I was heartened to see first signs of recovery in seagrasses at Cyrene. Now, two months later, much of the Tape seagrass are still cropped short.

And there were patches of brown fluffy stuff on the seagrasses.

But it was great to see longer Tape seagrasses in the deep pool in the middle of the Reef!

Seagrasses growing in deep pool at Cyrene Reef

There were a few Sickle seagrasses that were flowering! And the Smooth ribbon seagrasses are now found in a large area in the middle of the Reef.

As we depart at sunset, we notice flaring has started up at the petrochemical plants on nearby Pulau Bukom.

Flaring at petrochemical plants on Pulau Bukom

Let's hope Cyrene stays safe until our next survey.

Photos by others on this trip

Jianlin Liu on facebook.
Juria Toramae on facebook.
Loh Kok Sheng on his blog.
Lisa Lim on facebook.
Marcus Ng on facebook.
Heng Pei Yan on facebook.
Toh Chay Hoon on facebook.

East Coast Park shores are becoming richer in marine life! As seagrasses settled on sandy artificial shores.

A small team made a spur-of-the-moment decision to check it out yesterday, despite the not-so-low-tide. And we found sea stars, special snails and other surprises.

The sandy shores are teeming with tiny to small Cake sand dollars. There were several families on the shore and the kids found all kinds of interesting marine life.

These included baby Knobbly sea star and a Cake sea star that was eating a dead fish! They also found a Peachia anemone that was out of the sand and looked strange to them. I did not see any buried sea cucumbers. Kok Sheng found even more interesting sea stars and marine life.

Another special find were several small Thick-edged sand dollars.

There were also lots of living Button snails on the shore! A lot more than on our last trip here in the morning in Jul 2015.

Button snails are preyed upon by all kinds of burrowing animals. You can often see signs of this on the sand, with trails of panicky button snails moving away from a large tunneling burrower.

Here's a video of some of the burrowing predators that we saw on this shore. These include the Fig snail, Ball moon snail, Lined moon snail, Naked moon snail, Weasel olive snail and Grey bonnet snail.

Snails of the sandy shores of East Coast Park

I also saw snails buried in the sand that are ordinarily seen above the sand. Like the Spiral melongena and the Gong gong snail. The Lined moon snail in the photo is a burrower.

The tide was too high to check on the seagrasses which we first saw growing here in Jun 2015. But I did get a glimpse of some growing nearer the high shore. There were lush growths of broad Needle seagrass and Spoon seagrass with large leaf blades. I also saw one Haddon's carpet anemone. This video clip shows how the tiny seagrasses hold up in the surging waves.

Oh dear, some of the rocks on the artificial shore were turned over. This will cause the animals that have grown on the rock to die as they are exposed to light and dry out during low tide. Remember to turn back all rocks gently after you have a look at what is under them. There was one person far out at sea possibly fishing. I didn't come across any nets or traps on the shore.

Let's hope the shore continues to prosper and grow richer until our next survey.

Posts by others on this trip

Loh Kok Sheng on facebook and his blog.
Jonathan Tan on facebook.

Barramundi Asia fish farm is located close to natural Pulau Semakau's shores. We have noticed disturbing impacts of this fish farm in the past: from from signs of dubious trash disposal, littering with large farm trash and even parking their equipment on the seagrass meadows.

Green mangroves and coastal forest of natural Pulau Semakau
with Barramundi Asia farm in front of it.

During our survey on 8 Feb 2016, we noticed Barramundi Asia workers appear to be laying large fishing nets in the mangroves of Pulau Semakau.

We came across a similar net in Aug 2013. Is Barramundi Asia harvesting wildlife to feed the commercially farmed fish? As the farm is said to be the largest fish farm in Singapore, its poor farm practices can potentially cause much damage to Pulau Semakau.

This is the location of the Barramundi Asia fish farm next to Pulau Semakau South and the Semakau Landfill. It has grown much larger since it was first set up in 2008.

When we first arrived, we notice three men wearing orange uniforms walking along the seawall towards the mangroves of Pulau Semakau.

They were carrying bags with them.

Another look at the men.

Later on, during our survey, the men were seen preparing large fishing nets within the mangroves.

The men were seen returning to the Barramundi Asia fish farm some time later.

On this trip, I also came across one small bundle of abandoned net. We removed it.

This is not our first encounter with nets laid on this shore. In Aug 2013, we had seen a 150-200m long driftnet on this shore which had trapped sharks, horseshoe crabs, stingrays. I saw 14 horseshoe crabs that were still alive and struggling and seemed freshly entangled in the net. Including two pairs of male and female. They all looked like Coastal horseshoe crabs.

I also came across five dead Blue-spotted fantail rays.

Loh Kok Sheng saw three small sharks that were covered in flies. More photos of these on Kok Sheng's blog post.

Photo by Loh Kok Sheng

Practices such as uncontrolled commercial harvest of wildlife can have a serious impact on the marine ecosystem.

An ecosystem is a system. Much like a car is a system. How many things can we remove from a car before it stops working? Sometimes, losing one small thing (e.g., spark plug) can cause the car to break down. Thus, unmanaged wild harvesting can have detrimental effects over the long term.

The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) is in charge of the Fisheries Act – Fisheries (Fishing Gear) Rules. Does AVA monitor and manage wild harvesting for commercial purposes? What is the data on commercial harvesting? What principles does AVA adopt for managing commercial harvesting?

Barramundi Asia fish farm littering on Pulau Semakau

The Barramundi Asia fish farm doesn't appear to care if its equipment litter Pulau Semakau. It appears, they even parked huge farm equipment right on top of the seagrass meadows of Pulau Semakau!

On 8 Feb 2016, I came across a battery and a bucket on the shore. I find it hard to believe the battery could have 'floated' onto the shore. Is trash being dumped by the farm on Pulau Semakau?

I would not be surprised because in the past, we had seen signs of dubious trash disposal on Barramundi Asia. In Oct 2013, Pei Yan blogged: "We passed by quite close to the fish farm next to Semakau. There is a barge right next to the fish farm loaded with stacks of bags which may be fish food. On the barge (right side on the photo), there seems to be a large rectangular metal container used for incinerating things. I could see smoke coming out of the rectangular container and smelled something being burnt."

Photo by Heng Pei Yan on her blog.

In Aug 2014, we noticed that on a large barge in the distance, there was a tank that not only looks burnt, but is placed on the barge so that the vertical gap in the tank is positioned over the water. Does Barramundi Asia burn trash in this tank and the ashes just chucked into the water?

On 8 Feb 2016, I could not see a similar set up on the large barge. Or perhaps it's covered by tarps?

Once again, I would like to highlight that the authorities should work together with fish farmers to provide all fish farmers a practical and reasonable way to accommodate their trash needs. Today, every business and household on the mainland and every ship parked in port is provided with daily door-to-door trash collection. But all coastal fish farms licenced by the AVA are NOT provided with a similar service.

In Aug 2013, we noticed a large platform at Barramundi Asia which seems to be barely floating above the water. It was loaded with netting, barrels and other farm items

In Aug 2014, the floating platforms still looks the same, one edge of the platform is sloping alarmingly into the water.

On our trip in 8 Feb 2016 this year, the platform has not been fixed.

The edge of the platform that slopes into the water appears to be in even worse repair.

Would items loaded on the platform fall into the water in stormy weather? Are such arrangements spotted during AVA's regular site checks? Does AVA approve of such storage arrangements?

In May 2011, a team of volunteers already had to remove a huge net that probably came from the fish farm. It had washed up onto the middle of Pulau Semakau, entangled near the mangroves that include rare and Critically Endangered trees such as Api-api jambu.

This is just a small portion of the entire net that we removed.

In May 2011, we came across a huge circular contraption 'parked' on the Southern shore of Pulau Semakau that we suspect belongs to the fish farm

Marcus took a photo of this contraption in April 2011 during low tide.

Photo by Marcus Ng, also featured on Nicole's blog

How do fish farms impact the surrounding marine ecosystem?

Poorly run fish farms can damage the surrounding marine ecosystems. This is ironic because the it is these marine ecosystems that provide the good water quality that fish farms need to raise their fish.

Fish farms can seriously pollute the waters with the following:

Drugs and chemicals used to treat and prepare farmed fish, such as antibiotics and formalin.
Excess and uneaten food given to farmed fish;
Wastes of farmed fish.

Natural wildlife can also be affected by parasites and diseases that spread from farmed fish. A study in Jan 2016 found a devastating virus in Canada's farmed salmon, wild salmon and sea lice that feed on farmed salmon. This virus has caused billions of dollars in losses to aquaculture in Chile.

Non-native farm fishes which escape can threaten native wild fish and unbalance the ecosystem.

Does Barramundi Asia care?

This is what Barramundi Asia's sister website Kuhlbarra says about their Environment & Sustainability

Barramundi Asia says: "The best evidence of the success of our environmentally sensitive approach can be seen in the delicate coral reef that thrives just 200 meters away from our farm."

And yet, over the years, we have seen Barramundi Asia workers treat this delicate coral reef very poorly.

I have written to them with our observations and will update this post with their replies (if any).

Related posts

A sliver of natural reef escaped the Tuas reclamation. It is now Singapore's last natural western reef.

I surveyed this shore on Saturday and Sunday during a not-so-low-tide. And I went to parts of the shore I've not been to before!

This special sliver of shore is all that is left of Singapore's natural western reefs. Kok Sheng shared this photo of what Merawang looked like before the Tuas reclamation, at the map exhibition at the National Library.

Photo shared by Loh Kok Sheng.

Here's another look at the shore before it was reclaimed, thanks to Jerome Lim's The Long and Winding Road blog.

Singapore's western coast in a 1927 map,
Image from Jerome Lim's blog.

Here's a screen shot of a great slideshow illustrating the effect of successive reclamation, on Noel Murphy's "Singapore Ground Games".

From Noel Murphy's blog.

On Saturday, I explored the eastern side of this narrow shore. A lone mangrove tree stands out on the mid-shore. The island on the horizon is Pulau Merambong which is part of Malaysia and has some awesome marine life.

There are more mangrove trees growing on the higher shores.

Some parts of the shore have lots of dead coral rubble (remains of our last great western reef?). I saw two Haddon's carpet anemones and some small patches of Spoon seagrass.

This tiny mangrove seedling has settled on the mid-shore among some Spoon seagrass.

This shore goes all the way to Raffles Marina about 1.5km away.

Here's a closer look at shore near Raffles Marina.

Skipping among the waves were little Gold-spotted mudskippers.

On this stretch of shore, I saw a lot of these tiny Onch slugs. They move quite rapidly, leaving trails of poop.

On the mangrove trees, there were various Periwinkle snails and many of the tree trunks were encrusted in barnacles.

I didn't see many snails on the rubbly area. Only one Spiral melongena and none of their egg capsules. I did see some Drills, not many kinds and not in large numbers. On the sandy shores, I saw one Olive whelk and some Common whelks. Under the stones, there were some top shell snails.

Under the stones there is more life. I saw several tiny young Estuarine moray eels! In the pools, there were many Shadow gobies.

Small blobs, probably Lined bead anemones. And lots and lots of porcelain crabs.

There were many Crown sea stars under the rocks throughout the shore. But I didn't manage to find the Cryptic sea stars that we saw on our last trip here in Jun 2015.

There were many tiny Xanthid crabs under the stones, as well as a few small Stone crabs. I also saw some Snapping shrimps. In the mangrove trees, I saw some Purple climber crabs. I saw only one Orange-striped hermit crab.

On Sunday, I did the western part of this shore which we usually do on our previous surveys. There were more Haddon's carpet anemones on this stretch of the shore. In one anemone, I saw many Tiny carpet anemone shrimps.

The stretch of Zoanthids here are still there. With dense patches of both Button zoanthids and Broad zoanthids.

I saw a Spearer mantis shrimp scramble out of a pool of water towards the sea where it promptly began burrowing into the sand.

Spearer mantis shrimp (Harpiosquilla sp.)

I also saw a Mud shrimp. It was foraging on the shore, like a little excavator, digging furiously at good spots for food.

On the sandy patches there were Sand bubbler crabs. As well as fiddler crabs.

Tiger moon snails are still commonly seen on this shore. I also saw one sand collar, the egg mass of moon snails.

Most of the western shoreline is very sandy now without any seagrasses or seaweeds. A layer of silt settles on the areas with pools of water.

There are still some small patches of Spoon seagrass near the mid-water mark.

The Spoon seagrasses I saw were mostly the large-leaved kind and were mostly healthy looking without much epiphytes growing on the leaves. The seagrasses and shores at Tuas Merawang Beacon are monitored by TeamSeagrass volunteers from MSD, led by Sheryl.

The water was murky so I couldn't go into deeper water to check out the sea fans and other marine life we saw on our last trip here in Jun 2015. But there was still a lot of animals in the murky water!

Here, there are still lots and lots of tiny to small Ball flowery soft corals, and many small bunches of Spiky flowery soft corals of various colours. And many cerianthids aka 'Peacock anemones. I saw one small clump of Starry leathery soft corals.

I saw two Long black sea cucumbers, one Garlic bread sea cucumber and several buried Ball sea cucumbers.

The most abundant seaweed was Ulva and Caulerpa verticillata. There were sprinkles of various seaweeds including Neomeris, Halimeda, Caulerpa peltata, Caulerpa serrulata, Caulerpa taxifolia, Avrainvillea erecta. There was also some Padina andAcanthophora.

I did not see many sponges on the shore. I only saw tiny clumps of a few kinds of sponges.

I saw one Painted sand star and one dead Cake sand dollar.

There were shaggy carpets of Gregarious tube worms and some Solitary tube worms. On the rubble, I saw many Short ribbon worms.

Just across the Johor Strait, close to the Merawang Beacon, is the Forest City reclamation in Johor. Compared to what we saw in Mar 2015 and Jun 2015, the reclaimed area looks bigger and there appears to be construction going on the reclaimed area.

There are huge piles of sand being unloaded from enormous barges.

It appears trees are also being planted and structures being built on the newly reclaimed land.

Another view of the construction on the reclaimed land.

What's going on?

Here's some graphics of the Forest City reclamation from recent media articles.

From Straits Times, 19 Mar 15

From The Malaysian Insider, on Today Online 19 Mar 15.

Here's the latest media articles about the Forest City reclamation.

I'm looking for help to coordinate the month-long Ubin Open House 2016 and other nature outreach activities.

One of the many fun activities during Ubin Day 2015.

Applications now open for the Wild Intern position! Closing date 8 Mar (Tue).

In this position, you will help organise nature outreach activities including

Ubin Open House: 14 May - 11 Jun 2016
More about Ubin Day 2015
Naked Hermit Crabs walks and events
http://nakedhermitcrabs.blogspot.sg/

What you can hope to achieve from this internship

Learn how to organise events successfully.
Network with Pulau Ubin, nature and environment communities, especially those who love Ubin.
Immerse in the latest happenings in Pulau Ubin, biodiversity and environment issues.

You will report to me (Ria). Other experienced nature leads may also mentor for specific events or projects. Working hours are flexible and there will be a monthly stipend. The internship is for a minimum of 3 months, from April to June 2016.

More about the roles and responsibilities, work arrangements, required skills and attitudes in the online application form http://tinyurl.com/WildsingaporeIntern

Applications close 8 Mar (Tue).

Exciting nature activities specially for kids are lined up for the coming school holidays! Lots of fun ways to discover and enjoy Singapore's biodiversity! Many are free. Explore our threatened forests, and our mangroves and more. Special walks on snakes, birds, monkeys, frogs. Also art sessions, drama workshops, camps and more!

Photo by Alvin Wong of a walk at MacRitchie
by the BES Drongos.

It's March, so March for MacRitchie! If the free MacRitchie walks offered by volunteers are full, here are more ways you can make a difference for our wild forests:

Learn more about the the MacRitchie forests
and get updated on other events offered by the volunteers
https://lovemacritchie.wordpress.com/news/
Sign the petition to reroute the CRL
https://lovemacritchie.wordpress.com/how/
Post a photo you took in MacRitchie Forest ‪#‎MyMacRitchie‬‪#‎MarchforMacRitchie‬‪#‎LoveMacRitchie‬ and tag 3 friends to do the same.

FREE events

12 Mar (Sat): NParks BioBlitz at Pasir Ris
Anyone can join a team of naturalists to conduct an intensive field study to document the diversity of flora and fauna at Pasir Ris Park!

12 Mar (Sat): Bird Watching along the Southern Ridges
Join us for this free birdwatching tour at the Southern Ridges, where up to 43 species of birds have been spotted so far. Volunteer guides from STMicroelectronics will take you through the Forest Walk and the Singing Forest in search of these beautiful birds. Do bring along a pair of binoculars or a camera with a zoom function for a better experience.

12 Mar (Sat): I heART Nature Workshop for kids
This interactive free parent-child bonding session includes interesting art and craft activities and a short nature appreciation walk. For children ages 5 to 7.

12 Mar (Sat): What's in my mangrove?
Mangrove forests are living borders of the freshwater and salt water. Out of 73 true mangroves species worldwide, 22 can be found in Sungei Buloh.

12 Mar (Sat): A walk with your neighbours - the macaques of MacRitchie
The long-tailed macaques are the most conspicuous animals at Macritchie Reservoir Park. Although commonly seen, they are very misunderstood. Few seeing them realise anything about the social world these monkeys live in. They have kin networks, power struggles, friends, foes, and an otherwise complex social network. In many ways, they provide a mirror of our own sociality.

13 Mar (Sun): MacRitchie Nature Walk with BES Drongos
Join the volunteers of BES Drongos on a remarkable adventure through the stunning forests in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve along the well-trodden Petai Trail!

19 Mar (Sat): Love MacRitchie walk with the Toddycats
Join enthusiastic volunteer guides who will share with you stories about the amazing plants and animals living in our precious forest heritage at Venus Loop. This series of free guided walks for the public are conducted by The Toddycats, volunteer nature guides of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, for the Love Our MacRitchie Forest movement

19 Mar (Sat): MacRitchie Nature Walk with BES Drongos
Join the volunteers of BES Drongos on a remarkable adventure through the stunning forests in the Central Catchment Nature Reserve along the well-trodden Petai Trail!

19 Mar (Sat): Free Chek Jawa boardwalk tour with the Naked Hermit Crabs
The Naked Hermit Crabs introduce you to Chek Jawa without getting your feet wet. Even though we are not going on to the shore, there is still much to see and enjoy. There are monitor lizards, fiddler crabs, spiders, rare plants, wild boar, mudskippers and lots of fruit trees. If we are lucky, we might even spot the Oriental Pied Hornbill, White-bellied Sea Eagle and the giant Atlas Moth.

19 Mar (Sat): What's in my water?
What's that swimming in the water? A fish, a worm, an insect or a crocodile!? Join us for an interesting morning walk getting to know the creatures and plants that lives in and around the water edges of Sungei Buloh.

19 Mar (Sat): Fun walk along the Southern Ridges
Take your family on a leisurely stroll through the Southern Ridges, a soothing sanctuary of greenery that is steeped in history and home to some of nature's greatest gifts of flora and fauna. Highlights of the free tour include the Henderson Waves, Sembcorp Forest of Giants, Forest Walk and Singing Forest.

19 Mar (Sat): Nature Sketching in the Gardens with Pui San
Enjoy nature creatively through this engaging, fun and therapeutic activity. Join our volunteer artist, Mr Tham Pui San, as he teaches and guides you in acquiring drawing and observation skills to equip you for an interesting journey of nature appreciation.

20 Mar (Sun): Herp Walk @ Treetop Walk
Join this special edition of Herp Walk @ Treetop Walk Herps are reptiles like lizards and snakes, and amphibians like frogs. Let the HSS volunteers introduce you to some delightful and interesting herps on this walk.

Other events

12 Mar (Sat): Invaders alert! A tour for kids
Invaders alert! Did you know that not all species found in the Gardens are native? Some of these invaders cause harm to the local plants and animals who call the Gardens their home. Learn how to identify these aliens during the guided tour and help the native species protect their home. Suitable for children in K1 – P6 Levels. $6 per child and $6 per accompanying adult.

12 Mar (Sat): Young Naturalist Camp at Sungei Buloh
This one-day camp encompasses a series of fun-filled and educational indoor and outdoor learning of the wetlands and nature conservation issues through worksheets, nature walks and hands-on activities. Suitable for children from 7 to 12 years. Registration fee of $5 for the camp will go into SBWR education.

14 Mar (Mon): Adventure with Plants - Sara at the Evolution Garden

In this guided tour for kids, join a giant prehistoric dinosaur, Sara, who lost her friends in the Evolution Garden. Travel back through time with Sara and help her search for her squirrel friends. By going through the thematic trail, you will also learn about some ancient plants which emerged on earth millions of years ago! Suitable for children in K1 – P6 levels. $8.50 per child (includes $2.50 "Adventure with Plants, Sara at the Evolution Garden" workbook) and $6 per accompanying adult.

16 Mar (Wed): Nature Keeper Camp for kids
Designed to stimulate the interest of the young and inculcate in them an appreciation of our forests. The free Nature Keeper Camp will be carried out Labrador Nature Reserve. The one-day nature camp also aims to nurture young minds in active protection and conservation of our natural heritage. Suitable for children 7 - 11 years old (Primary 1 to 5). $25 per child.

18 Mar (Fri): Animal Tree Huggers of Singapore
Our rainforest and wayside trees are homes to a diversity of wildlife. Up in these trees, they build their homes, raise their families, find food and play. Who are these tree-living wildlife that are found on our island? How have they adapted to living high up in the tree canopy? In this workshop, participants will learn about trees and tree-living wildlife, followed by a guided walk in the park to look for them This activity is led by Cicada Tree Eco Place. $25 per person.

18 Mar (Fri): “Grow With Nature” Drama for kids -- The Grumpy Tree
Through nature, we can learn and grow in character. The rich biodiversity in nature makes it a good teaching tool to develop children’s character through dramatization. Children will be encouraged to care for nature and to be aware of its biodiversity. Learn why you should think before you act in this workshop. Suitable for children in K1 – P6 Levels. $10 per child.

19 Mar (Sat): Kampong Tour at Pulau Ubin
Take a walk with us to experience Ubin's wonderful natural and cultural heritage. The 2.2km trail takes about 2 hours to complete. The tour will start at the Ubin-HSBC Volunteer Hub and take you through the spice trees around Jelutong campsite, Butterfly Hill, Pekan Quarry, Sensory Trail Ponds, Kampong House, Old Bin Kiang School site, Toa Pek Kong Temple and end at the Wayang Stage. You will hear about the use of spices in cooking and the interesting history of the different sites. SGD$60.00 / Group (for a maximum of 15 people) Only payment via cheque are allowed.

Go wild on your own!

You can also explore on your own! Check out the many DIY Trail Guideson the NParks website. More about our wild places on wildsingapore. A tip to avoid the crowds on school holiday weekends, come early. That's when wildlife is more active anyway. And leave before it gets too hot.

MORE school holiday activities on the wildsingapore happenings blog.

On our first morning survey for the year, we head out for Terumbu Pempang Tengah during a glorious sunrise!

It was good to see fresh seagrass growths and no coral bleaching!

This large submerged reef flat has lots of Leathery soft corals, hard corals and other marine life.

Even though it is next to petrochemical plants of Pulau Bukom and Jurong Island.

The large patch of Branching montipora corals near our favourite landing point is alive and well. No bleaching in sight.

The reef flat is dotted with many large boulder shaped Merulinid corals (previously called Favid corals). Those I saw were not bleaching.

As usual, the most common hard corals remain Pore corals and Merulinid corals previously called Favid corals.

I also saw some Anemone corals and Small goniopora corals and they were not bleaching. We couldn't get to the reef edge to see some of the special corals because the Sargassum was still in bloom.

I saw several Cauliflower corals and Asparagus flowery soft corals. They were not bleaching. In the past, these are the first to bleach/

The corals at Marina Keppel Bay were mostly alright, although there was one small bleaching colony.

A few of the Leathery soft corals were oddly coloured (greenish), I saw one small yellowish Spiky flowery soft coral (might be its normal colour) and a few tiny hard corals that were bleaching.

As usual, there are clumps of small sponges, small corals, with seaweeds, sponges and other marine life dotting the area. Among the crabs I saw (but didn't photograph) were small Swimming crabs, and many Hairy crabs.

In pools of water, there are clumps of corals and seaweeds and other colourful animals.

I came across several small Magnificent anemones, a few Giant carpet anemones some with hidden anemonefishes, and two Haddon's carpet anemones.

One of the anemones had a very selfish anemone shrimp!

Five-spot anemone shrimps (Periclimenes brevicarpalis) on Haddon's carpet anemone (Stichodactyla haddoni)

Some creatures that I noticed for the first time on this reef are Yellow clustered bead ascidians, and the Blue-spotted flatworm that probably eats them.

I am really heartened to see nice fresh green seagrasses. The Tape seagrasses were rather long, there were many patches of Spoon seagrasses with large and small leaf blades, and also sprinklings of Sickle seagrasses. The seagrasses are still patchy and not so dense like at Cyrene Reef. But on our last trip in Jun 2015, the seagrasses were heavily covered in ephiphytes. Today, they were nice and clean.

Here's a video of the seagrasses today.

Seagrasses doing well at Terumbu Pempang Tengah

Terumbu Pempang Tengah is close to an area designated for parking of large unused construction sea vessels such as cranes, barges and huge work boats.

Terumbu Pempang Tengah is also close to the Live Firing Islands and as we were leaving, we heard two loud thumps and saw smoke rising from probably Pulau Senang. This is why it is important not to stray into the Live Firing Area.

On the way home, we take a closer look at a barge that is parked close to Terumbu Semakau. It is the SSE ANNE and Alex teaches me to see how it is not just parked (with one buoy) but anchored in place (with four buoys) so it is probably used for work at the site. A check and from PORT MARINE NOTICE NO. 20 OF 2016 dated 7 Mar 2016, it is part of an "Underwater Communication and Networking Experiment off North of Pulau Semakau" that will take place from 8 Mar 2016 to 18 Mar 2016.

The experiment includes the deployment of acoustic communication nodes, and AUV by work boats in the area marked on the chart. Divers will be on standby during the deployment and recovery of acoustic communications nodes and ADP. Further enquires relating to the project can be directed to Dr Venu, Senior Research Fellow at Tel: 8147-1997 (email: tmsvp@nus.edu.sg).

At the start of the trip, in the dark, the flaring at the petrochemical plants on Pulau Bukom is more obvious. I was surprised when I got back to receive an update from Shell about some issues that resulted in "flaring with intermittent dark smoke" that they are working to resume normal operations. It's good to know that they are reaching out to the marine community about such issues.

It has indeed been a good day for engagement with the marine community. After the trip, I attended a special gathering for marine environmentalists organised by the Maritime and Port Authority (MPA). It included a lovely walk of maritime heritage sites (which I missed because I was on the morning trip), a tour of the Singapore Maritime Gallery, a lovely lunch followed by a discussion of volunteering with MPA's marine conservation programmes. More photos in my facebook album.

Here's the location of the submerged reef we visited today. 'Tengah' means 'middle' in Malay, while 'Laut' means 'seaward' and 'Darat' means 'landward'. These beautiful submerged reefs may be affected by reclamation in the future.

The 2030 Landuse Plan by the Ministry of National Developmentreleased in Jan 2013 shows plans for 'possible future reclamation' (in light blue surrounded by dotted lines) that may impact Terumbu Pempang Darat and Terumbu Pempang Tengah. More about thepossible impact of the 2030 Landuse Plan on our shores.

Click on image for larger view.

Let's hope these beautiful reefs will be spared this fate.

Photos by others on this trip

Russel Low on facebook
Jianlin Liu on facebook.
Jonathan Tan on facebook.
Marcus Ng on facebook.

Another sunrise survey at Terumbu Raya where we sadly saw some signs of bleaching although most of the corals were alright.

Alas, the seagrasses are not doing very well. But the shore remains lively with interesting encounters.

This submerged reef lies near the petrochemical plants on Pulau Bukom.

This submerged reef lies opposite Pulau Hantu and the petrochemical plants on Pulau Bukom, and is next to Pulau Semakau.

This little Pink-speckled shrimp-goby zoomed out of its burrow and settled next to my bootie! As its name suggested, the shrimp goby lives in the same burrow with a snapping shrimp. With keener eyesight, the goby keeps a look-out while the shrimp busily digs out and maintains their shared home. The shrimp is literally constantly in touch with the goby with at least one of its antennae always on the goby. When the goby darts into the burrow, the shrimp is right behind it!

Another interesting little fish that is commonly seen on our reefs is the Worm eel. Which is perfectly shaped for checking out crevices and burrows on the reef.

I can only spot large nudibranchs like this Discodoris boholiensis that is often mistaken as coral rubble.

It has been very hot lately, which makes us worry about coral bleaching. So we also checked for this during our trip. Here's the latest Bleaching Alert Areas from the NOAA website. Singapore appears to be outside the 'Watch' status. What is coral bleaching and why this is of concern on the Bleach Watch Singapore blog.

The reef flat is dotted with many large boulder shaped Merulinid corals (previously called Favid corals). Most of those I saw were not bleaching.

But I saw some corals turning pale of having odd colours. But only very few colonies were actually bleaching and most were only partially bleaching.

Some of the large Pore corals were pale on top but not bleaching.

Many of the Cauliflower corals I saw were very pale at the tips. These corals were among the first to bleach in 2010. But all the Sandpaper corals I saw were mostly still dark brown.

I saw a few colonies of Merulinid corals that were pastel coloured and a few that were partially bleaching. Also a bright green Pebble coral. I saw a few Brain corals that were pale, and the few Flowery disk corals I saw were also pale and yellowish.

I also saw a few bleaching corallimorphs, and many of the Sea mat zoanthids I saw were pale. But the other kinds of zoanthids I saw were alright. There were abundant patches of Brown feathery soft corals that seemed alright.

The Pizza anemone is usually well camouflaged. Does the bright colours of this one mean that it is about to bleach? Nick and I also looked for Frilly anemones and many of those we saw were pale and yellowish. We did come across a Giant carpet anemone with anemonefishes and Haddon's carpet anemone that were alright. The tide wasn't low enough to look for the Bubble-tip anemones that were usually found on the reef edge, which we saw on our trip in Jun 2015.

The seagrasses here don't appear to be doing well. Although I did come across some long Tape seagrass, most of the Spoon seagrasses were covered in epiphytes. There were also cropped or burnt Sickle seagrass.

We are sad that none of us saw the Fluted giant clams that we saw on our trip in Jun 2015.

There is a faint trace of smoke from the petrochemical plants at Pulau Bukom. I got another update today from Shell which said that the issues that resulted in "flaring with intermittent dark smoke" yesterday has been resolved. It's good to know that they are reaching out to the marine community about such issues.

Photos shared by others on the trip

Russel on facebook.
Jonathan Tan on facebook.
Marcus Ng on facebook.

Yesterday, a small team surveyed Lazarus and Seringat-Kias. These locations are now connected via a causeway bridge to St John's Island.

The rocky shore is relatively lively and I saw some seagrasses.

Seringat-Kias was created by reclaiming the submerged reefs of Seringat and Kias and connecting it to the natural Lazarus Island. A causeway bridge joins these with St. John's Island. Here's more about what was done to create Seringat-Kias.

Yesterday, I spent the entire hot morning on the Western side of Lazarus Island, checking out the natural rocky shore and cliffs here.

There are several large boulders on the shores which probably rolled off the cliff. Many creatures have settled on these large boulders.

Many rocks were encrusted with limpets and barnacles. Also periwinkle snails of all kinds.

Where pools of water collected on the boulders, there were Banded bead anemones, zoanthids and seaweeds.

The rock shore has all kinds of snails. Including Drills, Planaxis snails, Top shell snails and Turban snails.

The most abundant snails were Nerite snails. There are many different kinds of Nerites and they are best told apart by looking the underside (and not the colour of the upperside of the shell). This is a Waved nerite.

This is the Ox-tongue Nerite with many large pimples on the flat portion of the shell on the underside.

This is the Chameleon nerite.

This is the Scaly nerite with orange stains at the shell opening. More about telling apart Nerite snails here.

Nerites are quite captivating snails with twirly tentacles.

Nerite snails can really twirl their tentacles

Another creature common on rocky shores are Onch slugs, which are often well camouflaged so watch your step!

Big pimply onch slug (Family Onchidiidae)

Besides Sargassum seaweed which is still abundant, most of the low shores were barren with only sprinklings of seaweeds and sponges. There were some zoanthids and also several Frilly sea anemones.

The reef edge appears mostly bare of corals and sponges and I only saw two coral colonies, both were not bleaching. The island opposite is St. John's Island.

Many parts of the lower rocky shore was covered in thick silt.

It was nice to see a nice large patch of Spoon seagrasses which were fresh and green. This island is also next to the international shipping lane which is crowded with large vessels.

The rocks of the natural cliffs I am sure tell a lovely story, which alas, I am unable to read. Must return with some geographers. A coastal forest grows on these cliffs.

There were many large old Penaga laut trees. Among the special plants I could spot was one Delek air in full bloom and fruit.

A Perepat tree is also growing on the shore.

There is a fish farm that lies in the channel between this natural rocky shore of Lazarus and St John's Island.

I understand it's a fish farm operated by AVA as part of their Marine Aquaculture Centre. Like other fish farms in Singapore, it has lots of stuff stacked on floating platforms close to the water.

There were a few clumps of large trash on the high shore. Like large wooden beams, large ropes, several tyres. I also saw a black shade cloth and some styrofoam floats.

The white thing is a sponge. Also work boots. My last trip to this shore was in Jun 2013 when I saw the fish farm parking its equipment on the shore and stacking wood on trees on the coastal forest. I didn't see these yesterday.

And tucked into the beautiful rocky cliffs...

Some fencing. This obviously did not float onto the shore and was deliberately put here. It is some distance from the causeway bridge. Where did the fence come from?

While we were waiting for the boat, I noticed lots of small litter around the shelter. Besides the usual cigarette butts, also many long slender plastic pieces with a knot at the end. These are probably those used by grass cutters. Were they just tossed aside as they cut the grass?

It was hazy when we approached the mainland.

The recent hot weather means not just increased threat of coral bleaching and mass fish deaths, but also haze. I hope our shores will stay safe through these extreme weather conditions.

Photos by others on this trip

Jonathan Tan on facebook.
Law Ing Sind on facebook.

As we approach conditions ideal for a plankton bloom, I checked out Lim Chu Kang and Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve on the Western Johor Strait for signs of mass fish death.

Dead Fish Alert! Please help me monitor dead fishes washing up on the Johor Straits. Please let me know if you see large numbers (more than 10) especially of large dead fishes (more than 20cm long) washing up on the northern shores such as Pulau Ubin, Lim Chu Kang, Sungei Buloh, Kranji, Woodlands Waterfront, Sembawang, Punggol, Lorong Halus, Pasir Ris, Changi.

There are about 60 fish farms licenced by the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) located here. The yellow line along the Johor Strait is the international boundary between Singapore and Malaysia. The mangroves and mudflats of Lim Chu Kang and Sungei Buloh provide ecosystem services such as maintaining good water quality.

The Lim Chu Kang Jetty is used by fishermen and the area nearby for their trash disposal in a large skip tank and smaller bulk bin. Today, everything was super neat and tidy.

There is a rest area near the jetty with an altar. It is very neat and tidy today.

The shore near the jetty had not much litter today.

This is what it looked like in Mar 2015.

Dead fishes and trash at Lim Chu Kang Jetty, 8 Mar 2015

Further into the mangroves nearby, I notice the many structures on the high shore (which I was told was used by fish farms and fishermen to store their stuff) are no longer there.

This is what it looked like in Mar 2015.

Dead fishes and trash at Lim Chu Kang Jetty, 10 Mar 2015

I did not see (or smell) any dead fishes on the shores. But there were still some bags that look like they come from the fish farms: from fish feed and bulk ingredients for making fish meal.

Here's a video showing the neat and tidy jetty area, but still large litter in the mangroves.

I saw an AVA van and a DHI vehicle nearby. Perhaps there is some kind of official visit to the fish farms?

The mangroves of Lim Chu Kang and Sungei Buloh help to keep the water healthy. Their ecosystem services will become even more important as the natural shores on the Johor side is being developed. There is massive reclamation on the Johor side of the Strait, near the Singapore fish farms.

On the Singapore side of the Western Johor Strait, there are many heavy industries such as the Sarimbun Industrial Park with mountains of stuff piled on their property.

How is the situation at Sungei Buloh?

I had a brief stop at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve and checked the Coastal Trail for dead fishes. I only saw a few small ones and one large dead catfish that looked like it just died.

It has been so hot lately that the mud is cracking even during the brief low tide. The forecast for the rest of March is super hot weather that may reach 36degC and below-normal rainfall. These will create great conditions for a plankton bloom that kills fish and marine life.

I was glad to see much wildlife in the mangroves. Prints of birds feeding along the mud bank of the stream.

Quarrelsome egrets feeding on the shore.

It appears some of the birds have their fluffy breeding plumage!

A visitor pointed out a little Estuarine crocodile hunting under the bridge!

Here's a video clip of the crocodile.

Estuarine crocodile (Crocodylus porosus)

Other hunters are out and about in the mangroves. There were many Golden Orb-web spiders and this one seems to have caught some kind of beetle.

You CAN make a difference: Dead Fish Alert!

Please help me monitor dead fishes washing up on the Johor Straits. Please let me know if you see large numbers (more than 10) especially of large dead fishes (more than 20cm long) washing up on the northern shores such as Pulau Ubin, Lim Chu Kang, Sungei Buloh, Kranji, Woodlands Waterfront, Sembawang, Punggol, Lorong Halus, Pasir Ris, Changi.

There are too many shores for me to personally check, so I really appreciate any info or photos that you can share.

Cyrene full of Forskal's and seagrasses coming back!

Chingay 2016 will NOT release sky lanterns

Checking up on Chek Jawa's northern sand bar

Coastal works near Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal continue

2 Feb (Tue): World Wetlands Day

Punggol mangroves being smothered by clay?

Black water at Punggol Jetty

Wet and windy at Pulau Semakau East

'Mini-Chek Jawa' is lost?

Snaky at Southern Semakau

Checking up on Cyrene

East Coast Park is alive

Why are Barramundi Asia fish farm workers harvesting wildlife at Pulau Semakau?

Singapore's last Western reefs at Tuas Merawang Beacon

Wild Intern (Apr-Jun 2016) - Now open for applications!

Wild fun for kids during the March school holidays!

Terumbu Pempang Tengah: seagrasses doing well, no bleaching

Signs of bleaching at Terumbu Raya

Rocking shore at Lazarus

Any dead fishes at Western Johor Strait? (16 Mar 2016)