Singapore Celebrates our Reefs: International Year of the Reef 2008

2008 is International Year of the Reef!

And many of the groups and individuals active in Singapore marine conservation have come together to consolidate activities and share about our reefs and shores.

You CAN make a difference for our reefs and shores!

Support IYOR Singapore!

Visit our reefs and shores. Come for IYOR events. The first IYOR event is SharkWaters a charity premier in support of the "Say No to Shark's Fins" campaign in Singapore.

Display the IYOR badge on your blog and website.

Tell your friends about IYOR Singapore.

Want to know more about our reefs? Gather a group of at least 50 and invite any of these speakers to give a free talk about our reefs and shores.

Visit the IYOR Singapore blog which will feature regular articles about our reefs and shores, our marinelife, and the people who work for them.

Happy New Year!

Artificial Reefs: do they help or harm?

Here's some thoughts from recent articles about artificial reefs (emphasis mine):

Concern Lingers on Success of Artificial Reefs
Charles Q. Choi, LiveScience.com Yahoo News 27 Dec 07;
full report also on wildnews

The past 50 years saw artificial reefs built using anything from obsolete oil rigs and decommissioned warships to junk such as tires and washing machines. Not all have proven boons to the environment — some have proven ineffective or actually harmful.

"We've gotten smarter since then — we know what materials to use now to build artificial reefs," Perry said. "We don't want to just throw anything out there in the water — artificial reefs aren't just dump sites."

"You want to also make sure that artificial reefs are placed in a fairly stable environment and be outside of surf-pounding areas," Perry said. "You want to avoid them getting moved about by wave action."

However, "natural reefs are obviously still valuable," Perry said. "You can't just destroy a natural reef and put out an artificial reef as a replacement. Artificial reefs may help offset the growing worldwide loss of natural reefs a little bit, but they should not be the only answer."

Concerns do linger as to whether artificial reefs are good for the oceans.

"By concentrating fish all in one place and making them easier to catch, they may exacerbate issues of overfishing,"

Reefs in Peril: an interview with Dr. Nancy Knowlton
Katherine Cure, e-magazine.com Nov/Dec 07 Vol. XVIII, no. 6;
full report also on wildnews

What do you think about the restoration initiatives that are being tried with electricity or the implanting of new artificial reefs? Do you think we’re losing time with those experiments or do you think they might contribute to helping?

The one big issue with restoration is that there’s no point in doing anything about it, if you haven’t eliminated the original causes of coral reef decline. Because then the same things will happen with the restored reefs, as with the original reefs.

Restoration has its role, but in general, we need more attention to improving conditions. That means lowering fishing pressure, improving water quality and dealing with greenhouse gas emissions.

It’s more cost-effective than restoration initiatives, unless very specific conditions exist.

Dr. Nancy Knowlton is a coral reef scientist who studies their ecology and evolution, including the impact of climate change. The founding director of the Center for Marine Biodiversity and Conservation at the University of California, San Diego, she is also a professor at Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Her contributions have been crucial to the advancement of coral reef science.

Today, Knowlton holds the Sant Chair in Marine Science, recently awarded by the Smithsonian Institute’s National Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. Occupying the museum’s first funded chair in marine sciences, Knowlton will provide leadership to the Smithsonian’s Ocean Initiative, an interdisciplinary move to foster greater public understanding of ocean issues.

Can Labrador survive?

Today is the very last lowish tide for the year, and we thought we should have a look at Labrador, especially after the recent distressing entry on the reddot blog.Indeed, the cofferdam is in the process of being dismantled, and a new fence has been erected to replace the disintegrating blue hoarding that we saw on our visit about two weeks ago (which was emblazoned with the names of the parties involved in the project).

But surprisingly, although the contractors bothered to take down the hoarding and build a new fence, they didn't bother to clear the rubbish in the area!There was even discarded green fencing on the shore and stuffed into natural crevices in the cliff, together with other rubbish. My mind is boggled.The entire work area is a disgusting mess and smelt as foul as it looks.
Apologising doesn't cure this situation, I feel.

But how is the shore coping with the stress of trash and high sedimentation?

The rocks were alive with lots and lots of colourful Nerites (Nerita sp.)For some reason, there were plenty of orange ones in various sizes.On the big boulders, there were Toothed top shell snails (Monodonta labio), with the signature 'tooth' across the shell opening.
As well as Dwarf turban snails (Turbo bruneus) with their semi-spherical 'door' to seal the shell opening, and conical Spotted top shell snails (Trochus maculatus). The Spotted top shell snail is listed among our threatened animals due to habitat loss.
On the stones were huddles of tiny hermit crabs in assorted tiny shells.Here and there, the boulders were still encrusted with animals such as the rubbery brown zoanthid and blue sponges.Among the coral rubble were zoanthids, struggling to stay above the thick layer of silt.I also saw two Branched-tentacle sea anemones (Phymanthus sp.). These anemones are usually very commonly seen on our Southern shores and normally we would see dozens.
Heading down towards the seagrass meadows nearer the entrance, alas, we see again the heartbreaking concrete slabs left behind by Singapore Polytechnic for their seacil project. In further state of disintegration, threatening to release their component plastic bits and other potentially deadly parts.

The two enormous rectangular slabs where still there.And the triangular slab too.

The slabs lie right on the seagrass meadows, which are alive with all kinds of plants and animals.

There were tiny colonies of living hard corals among the seagrasses.
As well as small clumps of soft corals.
In the pools were little gobies like this fat Ornate lagoon-goby (Istigobius ornatus).
There were also fast skipping mudskippers, and little cardinalfishes. While a few snapping shrimps were busy keeping their burrows clear of sediments.

And this transparent, shy anemone.It is probably a peacock anemone (Order Ceriantharia) because it has an outer ring of long tentacles, and an inner ring of short tentacles.The Sickle seagrasses (Thalassia hemprichii) were blooming! And little shrimps are found among their leaves. There are two in this photo, can you see them? Look for their blue eyeballs! The longer Tape seagrass (Enhalus acoroides) were also blooming.
On the left, a female flower developing into a fruit, on the right, a male flower. The Spoon seagrasses (Halophila ovalis) were also still valiantly alive.

We had a strange encounter today, with a man who brought a bag of living corals TO Labrador. He said he was returning the corals that he got from the shore.Hmmm...

Another mystery is the large number of dead corals washed ashore with large clumps of sargassum seaweeds attached to them.
I saw at least 15 such corals. There was a broad band of sargassum growing on Labrador, but in deeper water. Did these corals wash up from that zone? Why did they wash up? What does this mean?

Some stuff we saw, however, is no mystery. PVC pipes that roll about in the waves, squishing life on the shores.
Marine life on Labrador was magnificent before the construction. And today, we see that some marinelife still exists.

If the mess on the shore is cleared up soon, the marinelife might get a chance to make a slow recovery.

Otherwise, the result might be more ominous...

Sweet Young Things on Changi

A few of us were back on the shores for the last super low tide of the year. A nice slow leisurely look at Changi. And wow, there were so many cute little things out on the shore!

Near sunset, as on Chek Jawa, all the little stars came out. We're talking of course, about sand stars (Astropecten sp.).Those on Changi were really small! And they were all well spaced out. They looked like they were eating the seaweeds or something on the seaweeds.

There was also a very tiny Biscuit sea star (Goniodiscaster scabra) hardly bigger than a seagrass leaf.
And really small Pencil sea urchins (Prionocidaris sp.).Miniscule Thorny sea cucumbers (Colochirus quadrangularis).
Small swimming sea anemones (Boloceroides mcmurrichi)
A teeny weeny scallop (Family Pectinidae) with its pretty shell patterns still unhidden.Bigger scallops on Changi tend to have shells covered with encrusting animals.
Even the Button snails (Umbonium vestiarum) were tinier than those found on Chek Jawa.
Chay Hoon also found this small little Sea moth or Sea robin (Pegasus volitans).There were also small humans on the shore!A bunch of kids were out on a shore trip. How wonderful to see efforts to introduce our living shores to our children!

On the high shore, a grandpa and grandma were sharing more about the sea creatures with their grandchildren.Grandpa was using a castnet to catch all kinds of fishes, which grandma showed off in a pool of water. A few of us took the opportunity to take some photos of these fishes. (Grandma said she would release the fishes after they had a look at them).

Among the special finds was this small Blue-spotted stingray (Dasyatis kuhli)This sting ray is identified by the black-and-white bands on the tail, a rounded snout and a dark band across the eyes. The similar looking Mangrove whipray (Himantura walga) has a more pointed snout and lacks the bands on the tail and across the eyes.

How wonderful to see a thriving shore with lots of developing young animals!

While Chek Jawa is better known and appreciated, shores nearby like Changi and Pulau Sekudu are also important. Should anything happen to Chek Jawa, such as the mass deaths following the flooding earlier this year, young animals from shores like Changi and Pulau Sekudu will resettle on Chek Jawa. We should appreciate and protect all our natural shores for they are all interconnected.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Chek Jawa!

A hearty cheer to everyone from Chek Jawa!
From the garang volunteers of Kok Sheng's Chek Jawa project, a hearty cheer to more good years for Chek Jawa and our other shores! And today, we are privileged and blessed to also have Joseph Lai with us. It was Joe who first publicly raised the Chek Jawa issue which led to eventual deferment of reclamation.

This tradition of celebrating the new year, began with the first New Year on Chek Jawa after reclamation was deferred in 2001.
Siva, who is in this photo, still remains involved as he is Kok Sheng's supervisor for the Chek Jawa project!

Earlier this year, we also celebrated the New Year on Chek Jawa.Also with Joe, and with the leads of TeamSeagrass (Siti, Shufen and Wei Ling) and the super guide Chay Hoon (right most).

We hope to be able to continue this tradition for many more years on Chek Jawa.

The day began much earlier, as the team of volunteers helping Kok Sheng headed down to monitor and measure a whole bunch of stuff.Here they are, heading down to the shore with the humungous orange flags.

The happy team doing the peacock anemones! Apparently much easier this time as all the transects have been set up previously. There were also very energetic volunteers doing salinity tests, and counting sea stars and more.

I got the carpet anemone job again (actually, it's the only thing I know how to do). Today, we were lucky to have four people in the carpet anemone monitoring team.
My long-suffering team mates, here fixing up the poles, were YC, Sam and Siew Lee.

It is very obvious in this photo that two extra pair of hands really made the job a lot easier!

We also replaced the numbers on the poles today. Which was a little difficult as the poles were all encrusted with barnacles and other tenacious beasts.

However, YC proves to be even more tenacious!The anemones on Chek Jawa were doing really well!

There were little ones everywhere in all kinds of colours.And lots of very large ones too!All looking healthy and happy! Let's hope there will be no serious flooding this year in Johor, so that this recovery can go on and Chek Jawa will return to its full splendour.

And here's a last cheer from the irrepressible YC for a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Stars of Chek Jawa

It's low and we go! This time to help out Kok Sheng with his Chek Jawa project. He had a great team of young able-bodied people to help him out with his transect. Old fogies like me got an easier task.

Or so I thought.

The plan was to do a test of 10 sea anemones to compare with proper measurements tomorrow. Alas, today I was alone and I realised I needed at least 2 pairs of arms to get the job done.All alone, with a feeble back and knees, wild blowing winds, the results were very screwy. Sorry Kok Sheng. But either the squares floated away, or the fierce wind blew them off. Sigh.

Out in the North sand bar, Kok Sheng finds an incredible orange sea star!
It's quite huge! It is probably a Cake sea star (Anthenea aspera) because it is so large, has short arms, has a convex upper surface with tiny little pinching structures (called pedicellariae) (upper left photo) and on the under surface, large bivalved pedicellariae (lower left photo, the oval shapes which are actually large pinching structures).

Fortunately, I didn't have to do ALL the sea anemones, and had a little time over to check out the coral rubble area during this rare low tide to see whether things have recovered.

How lovely to see lots of large sponges in many different shapes and colours.There were also a few sea fans on the outer most edge of the coral rubble area.As Kok Sheng and I were lamenting the lack of Knobbly sea stars (Protoreaster nodosus), we stumbled upon one!It looked pretty OK on the underside too. Later on, Kok Sheng and team found three Common sea stars (Archaster typicus) and lots of sand stars (Astropecten sp.). What a star-studded day it turned out to be. We are delighted!

The shores are very much more alive than during our last visit. And the residents seemed happier. Here is Mama Noble volute laying her marvellous crystal-shaped egg cases.
The wind was blowing mighty fierce. So although the water was clear, I couldn't take photos of things underwater due to the rippling water surface.

I had a hard time shooting this very wriggly little fish which tumbled about in the waves and disappeared into deeper waters.
It's probably a juvenile Sweetlips (Plectorhinchus sp.) which swim in a "conspicuous undulating motion" that is believed to mimic toxic flatworms.

A puzzling new feature near the beacon was a large area of dead corals.
There were lots of dead corals of all kinds. Including a very large mushroom coral about 30cm long (possible Herpolitha sp.). Where did all these dead corals come from? They were mostly bleached white and not heavily covered with encrusting organisms, like the rest of the coral rubble there. Was this patch recently uncovered? Or recently ended up there? Very odd.

The dead corals formed around a deep pool which had a large fish trap in it.The trap was full of large groupers and other fishes, as well as a swimming crab. Kok Sheng took photos of them as I released the fishes. There was no float attached to the other end of the rope on the trap, so it was obviously abandoned. These fishes would never have been released. How cruel!

Joseph Lai who also happened to be on the shore, came across another abandoned fish trap with butterflyfishes in it. He also released the fishes and brought the trap up. We then both carried the flattened traps and some abandoned nets up to the high shore. Here's Joe with his son Lai Min to show how big the junk was.Joe says there's a huge abandoned driftnet still out there that will take at least 6 people to remove. Sigh. More killer nets, even on our precious Chek Jawa.

A no-fishing area in Chek Jawa and the surroundings such as Pulau Sekudu would actually help promote better fishing in areas like Changi and other parts of Pulau Ubin. A no-fishing area can be a nursery where young fishes can grow up and populate other areas.

But if ALL our shores were mercilessly and wantonly fished, and subjected to abandoned driftnets and fish traps, then fishing everywhere will be affected. If only more people who love fishing understood and supported this.

The transect team worked hard until sunset, and spent lots of time feeding the mosquitos as we washed the gear. It was pitch dark by the time we walked out, and we saw MORE stars. This time in the sky, with a gorgeous full moon.

But for me, the real stars of the day were all the dedicated volunteers who put in blood, sweat and tears to document and share about Chek Jawa. Bravo!

There's still a lot more to be done, and we need all the helping hands we can get. To volunteer for Chek Jawa, consider becoming a Chek Jawa guide with Ubin NParks. You can also volunteer with many other shore activities, some of which are listed on wildsingapore.

More blogs about this trip
Learn more about the (sea) stars on July's discovery blog
And about the (human) stars on Koh Sheng's cj project blog

Taking out more nets: Pulau Sekudu

Yet another boatload of determined Naked Hermit Crabs and friends headed out this afternoon to clear more nets. This time to one of our favourite sites: Pulau Sekudu.
Pulau Sekudu lies just opposite Chek Jawa (you can see the white Chek Jawa beacon on the left corner of the photo) and has gorgeous natural rock formations, a little patch of mangroves, fabulous seagrass meadows and reefs.
Pulau Sekudu means 'Frog Island' and it indeed has a frog-shaped rock on it (on the right corner of the photo above). You can see how low the tide is; the dark colour on the rocks mark the mid-water line.
Here's a closer look at the beautiful rock formations on Pulau Sekudu. Joseph Lai has a lovely article about these rock formations at Ubin on his eart-h.com
House No. 1 on Chek Jawa just lies opposite Pulau Sekudu. Thus Pulau Sekudu is part of the Chek Jawa ecosystem and any damage to it may damage Chek Jawa as well.
A quick briefing by Andy after we land, and we're off to clear the island of dangerous litter. As far as we know, there has never been a mass clean up of Pulau Sekudu.
There is a huge mess of years of accumulated abandoned driftnets entangled among the small group of mangrove trees. Despite the age of the driftnets, they continue to kill as long as they remain on the shore.
Dr Chua gently removes netting from this crab that was very much alive and thus must have only been recently entangled. The nets were full of shells of less fortunate crabs.

While one bunch of volunteers tackle the nets at the mangroves, another heads out to the huge boulders in the middle of the island where fishermen usually hang out.
They find more abandoned driftnets. Just as heartbreaking is the ugly graffiti that is found on almost every surface of these gorgeous natural rocks.
What possesses an intelligent lifeform to leave their name on wonderful works of nature? I don't understand it. And John had to leave his name twice on the same rock...huh?
In the centre of the island, campers have left lots of signs of their presence (thought not of mind). Litter of all manner, and marks of campfires.Even the top of the tallest boulders are not unscathed. We find lots of large litter there.

Suddenly, someone yells "Monitor lizard in a net!" It was still alive and struggling badly in a net that was wedged in a narrow crevice between the boulders.We had a hard time trying to get the poor little animal out. Finally, it came out after it gave a good chomp on Terry's finger. I was too shocked to take a photo of this incident. The guys managed to gently get a hold of it. And it was eventually cut free of the drift net.
Here it is, all free of netting. It scampered away amongst the boulders when we released it.

As we head out the southern shore of the island, we noticed two people on the shore.
Andy talks to them and they turn out to be kayakers from SLGC.

One of them had a bucket full of soft corals (photo by Andy). We made them return the soft corals. But who knows how often or how many people come to remove marine life from this beautiful island?

Meanwhile, Joe hauls out several huge fish traps.
And the guys remove yet more abandoned nets in the middle of the flats.
As we were preparing to remove all the rubbish, a fisherman came up to the island.In his boat, he had a bucket full of flower crabs, a large catfish and two Noble volutes (photos by Andy).
He was later also seen in the distance with driftnets in the waters near Chek Jawa.
A permit is now required from NParks to land on Pulau Sekudu (see this word document on the NParks website) and the area indicated on the map above is now known as “Chek Jawa Wetlands”, is managed by the National Parks Board (NParks), under the Parks and Trees Act 2005 and the Parks and Trees Regulations 2005. Let's hope that this means fewer visitors, poachers and fishermen.

It was a hard job getting all the rubbish to the boat pick up point so I didn't get a chance to take a group photo. But here's Terry with the growing pile, just to show how much of it there was.And James, with some of the 'special' finds of the day.
Besides the huge stack of nets, there was a car battery, the base of an office chair, and the bones of an umbrella. There were also yards of thick rope, weird cables. And this is just some of the trash on the island. We had to leave as the tide turned, the rain threatened, and well, there just wasn't any more space on the boat for us and the trash. There was THAT MUCH TRASH!

Thank you to the team who did a great job today: Terry and Jane, May, Kah Chine, Ivan, Joseph Lai, James, Dr Chua Ee Kiam and daughter. And to Chay Hoon for making all the permit and boat arrangements.

If only people who visit our shores exercised more restraint and disposed of their trash properly, this sort of situation wouldn't arise. Sigh.

More links
Thanks to Ivan! Who submitted this post to tomorrow.sg

Singapore port expansion: impact on Labrador Nature Reserve?

Singapore to spend $2b on port expansion
When completed by 2013, it will increase annual capacity by over 50 per cent.
Bryan Lee, Straits Times 21 Dec 07;

"The Government has also taken extra steps to minimise the ecological impact of the project.

It has spent more than $20 million engaging experts to conduct studies on how the port expansion may affect corals around Labrador Park and has even moved some that would have been hit by the project."

Full report on wildsingapore news

Does the $20million include cleaning up the construction debris around the worksite of the cofferdam on Labrador?

Is this the kind of "extra steps to minimise the ecological impact of the project" that we can expect?

Will it be the end of Labrador?

Or the expansion could be taken as an opportunity to show how Singapore can develop port facilities without damaging the enviroment. Such know-how can be applied to other locations around the world, where coasts are increasingly under pressure from climate change, rising sea levels and other impacts of coastal development.

Related links

Singapore port project: $20m to limit harm to environment
Govt focus on saving the coral along Labrador beach near construction works; Bryan Lee, Straits Times 25 Dec 07;

Singapore's hot new export - governance expertise
Former civil servants put in touch with other governments in need of help; Chuang Peck Ming, Business Times 25 Dec 07;

Taking out the trash: Belayar Creek, Labrador

This afternoon, despite threatening clouds, a determined bunch of Naked Hermit Crabs headed out to Belayar Creek to deal with the monster gill nets there. To finish up the job we started in an earlier trip.
Led by the intrepid Andy Dinesh, we set about to remove the massive network of nets abandoned on the shore. They are half buried so there's a fair bit of digging to do.Then cutting them up and dragging them out. Thank goodness we have many hands and strong backs today.There were nets even in deeper waters.
I felt as if we dragged out more than our body weight in nets.
There was a particularly long one (about 50m long) across the Creek itself, ending at Keppel Club.
We dragged it out to the Keppel Club shore and the Club staff were kind enough to offer to dispose of them. This saved us from heaving the nets out over the soft mud to the Labrador side of the shore. Thank you!And as we were hauling out nets, there was a boat just off the shore, setting down a fish trap as big as a man.The guy notices us.
And we note their registration number.
Andy found a very sick and dying heron. Poor thing.Just as we thought we took it all out, as we were leaving the shore, we came across MORE junk stuck among the rocks at the high water mark!We sure hauled out a lot of nets and junk! The iron rod Ivan hauled out is taller than himself! (He says now he has a tongkat longer than Ron's!)
The tired team is quite pleased to have cleared most of the junk off the shore. June, Andy, July, Joe Lai, Ivan and Tiong Chin, all having fun with poor Robert H. who really tired out from all the work.
And what an incredible amount of junk it was. Besides nets, there were thick ropes, barbed wire, plastic bags in various stages of disintegration, lots of golf balls, CDs and even insect repellent.
This is killer litter! We saw some crabs and little fishes stuck in the nets.
But gill nets can do far worse. Here's a photo of dugongs drowned in gill nets in Abu Dhabi.
Singapore has dugongs too. What a terrible shame if these abandoned nets killed our gentle dugongs. Tomorrow, we are going to clean up the Northern coast, which we suspect is visited by dugongs.

We're looking into doing this more seriously and regularly. If you'd like to help out, drop me an email. Ria at hello@wildsingapore.com

Labrador Nature Reserve: Trashed?

A short low tide and drizzly, but Justin and I thought we should check out the situation at Labrador. The tide was still high when we arrived, so we decided to check the rest of the shore.

The signboard for the experiment was still lying on the shore. The original location of the signboard on the jetty above is obvious.
Work is currently being done on the jetty, it appears the railings are being replaced. Perhaps the signboard fell off during the work? Let's hope there is an effort to clean up anything that fell off the jetty in the process of the work.

The shore was pretty clear of debris until we got to the cofferdam.
At first I was very heartened to see that the seagrasses were still there near the cofferdam.
But alas, there was a large accumulation of rubbish right next to the cofferdam. As well as a large pile of concrete pillars, probably parts of the structure that was originally on the shore at that location.In addition to the assortment of marine litter, there were large blue boards on the shore. What are they and where did they come from? They looked like part of signage.
Looking further up the beach and the origin of this trash was immediately clear.There were many large ropes that looked like they were deliberately tied to the signage poles, and other junk near the deteriorating signage.And more trash and trashed structures.
A closer look at the signage.

We walked through the gap in the signage to look at the cofferdam.It's humungous. In the distance is a very large cruise ship coming in to the mainland.

The high shore at the cofferdam is festooned with an incredible amount of trash. Ropes, plastic, furniture. It was mind boggling.
Nevertheless, there was a row of various statues and offerings that appeared to be kept in good order despite the wet weather recently. So there must be someone coming regularly to take care of them.
And the tree there was still draped in yellow cloth with a well-kept statue under it, protected by plastic sheeting.
As we walked back to the entrance, Justin pointed out the trash that was deliberated stuffed into crevices in the natural cliffs.
From green fencing (probably the one that originally marked the boundary of Labrador), to a large tire and black trash bags.
And there was an abandoned outboard motor on the shore as well!
Justin points out that this was too heavy to have drifted up to the shore. It must have been deliberately abandoned here. We also saw parts of an achor, and other construction debris.

By the time we got back, the tide was lower but the light fast going out. Alas, the large concrete slabs were still on the shore.The rectangular ones further down the shore were still there. Including the one further in the water. By feeling around in the water, we ascertained the PVC pipes around the second concrete slab have been removed.

The triangular slab higher up on the shore was also still there.
And it was still falling apart.We also saw bits of PVC pipes here and there on the shore.

This picture kind of says it all ...
As Andy said it, our Nature Reserve deserves more respect than this.

I feel it's time ordinary people did something about the situation. What say you about organising a clean up to get rid of all this trash? There's a lot of it, and most are very large. But with enough people with strong hands and hearts, I believe it can be done.

Update on correspondence with Singapore Polytechnic: I have not heard from Singapore Polytechnic since my last email on 25 Nov. No response to questions following the Straits Times article about the concrete slabs, and no response to my offer to give a talk about the shores to staff and students at Singapore Polytechnic.

See also
Justin's Labrador Speaks a Thousand Words

beachbum's comments on updates on Labrador namely:

1. The Singapore Government (LKY’s time) reputedly spent $10 million to clean up our waterways in the 1980s.

2. Singapore Polytechnic's Environmental Policy (as of May 2005)
Singapore Polytechnic will protect, care for and continually improve our environment by complying with relevant legislation and requirements, and maintaining an effective Environmental Management System that enables us to create a cleaner and healthier environment for ourselves and future generations.

Additionally, Singapore Polytechnic's Green Pledge is
G reen our campus,
R educe, reuse and recycle,
E ducate ourselves on green issues,
E ncourage others to do likewise, and
N urture a love for our environment

3. that Parliament decided on two separate occasions to legislate that no one should dump anything on Singapore’s shores: PARKS & TREES ACT and ENVIRONMENTAL PUBLIC HEALTH ACT

Reef Restoration by 'engineering' techniques: what are the issues?

As I was posting the article "Electricity revives Bali coral reefs" today on wildsingapore news, I realised the significance of the following comments on 'engineering' techniques in reef restoration. In particular, on the practice of such techniques on our shores.

Here are some extracts for thought, emphasis mine.

Extracts from a Resolution "Regarding the Need for Scientific and Financial Evaluation of Coral Reef Rehabilitation Methods" (PDF) submitted at INTERNATIONAL CORAL REEF INITIATIVE (ICRI)General Meeting Seychelles, 25th – 27th April 2005

1. Tropical coral reefs have been extensively damaged by pollution, overfishing, sedimentation, coral bleaching and disease throughout large areas of the Caribbean and Indo-Pacific regions.

More recently there has been damage due to natural events (e.g. tropical storms and the devastating tsunami of 26 December 2004);

2. The area of reefs damaged during these events is often vast, covering hundreds to thousands of square kilometres, such that the economies of local communities and countries are adversely affected;

3. Naturally Governments and the private sector with economic interests in coral reefs will seek ‘quick’ solutions, some based on engineering principles to ‘repair’ the damage and to accelerate natural recovery processes;

4. These agencies, however, may lack the capacity or expertise to evaluate the scientific and costs-to-benefit relationships of proposed coral reef rehabilitation techniques and to apply them in an effective and sustainable way;

5. Most coral reefs have considerable natural recovery capacity, provided that there are supplies of suitable coral, fish and other larvae, and that chronic disturbances such as excess sedimentation, pollution and over-fishing are minimised. Coral reefs can begin to recover immediately, with new coral growth and fish stocks naturally re-colonising the ecosystem within one to two years; complete recovery may take longer depending on the environment;

6. A wide range of ‘engineering’ techniques have been proposed as reef reconstruction or rehabilitation techniques by various commercial and non-commercial organizations. These include:

i. a mechanism using wire frames through which electricity is passed to accrete calcium carbonate and accelerate the growth of transplanted corals;

ii. installation of artificial reefs, including concrete structures; and

iii. mechanisms for re-cementing and re-gluing corals and other organisms to the substratum.

8. [It is} acknowledged that there is often a valid case for rehabilitation of damaged reefs and that some innovative and new approaches to coral reef conservation and management may potentially have applications, however we are concerned that there have been insufficient peer-reviewed, long-term scientific studies of reef rehabilitation using these and other techniques.

Moreover, there have been few cost-benefit analyses to assess effectiveness of the methods over natural recovery processes.

The available evidence suggests that some techniques may be useful in specialized cases, but all have limited or no application and value for large-scale coral reef rehabilitation.

In addition to effectiveness considerations, construction of any engineered structure on a coral reef must be evaluated against any potential environmental damage caused during construction or later degradation;

The proponents of this ICRI Resolution are in agreement that:

• Artificial reefs of any kind cannot replace a natural reef and do not function as effectively as a living coral reef;

• Coral reefs can usually repair themselves quickly if environmental conditions are suitable, and chronic disturbances are reduced;

• These techniques have the potential to cause environmental damage to coral reefs and associated ecosystems during construction and operation;

• Investments in coral reef conservation and preservation should therefore focus on removing the causes of coral reef decline and facilitating natural and longterm recovery.

The proponents of this ICRI Resolution suggest that the following basic questions should be answered prior to applying reef rehabilitation methods:

• Is a lack of colonisable habitat a limiting factor for coral settlement and reef development?

• What it the area of damaged reef that is targeted for rehabilitation?

• What are the chances for natural recovery of the reef? For example: are there available natural sources of coral larvae; are there stable habitats for settlement; and are environmental conditions favourable for reef growth?

• What is the cost per square meter of treatment to achieve a viable functioning reef?

• How much will a proposed treatment cost to repair a substantial area of damaged reef?

• What are the potential economic of sociological returns if a reef is rehabilitated?

• What are the likely impacts on surviving reef areas used as a source of collected transplant colonies?

• What is the likelihood of survival to normal growth and reproduction of colonies transplanted onto artificial structures?

• Have the causative stresses that led to reef damage been addressed/removed?

• Will any added structures be stable in the long-term and not degrade, thereby creating a future problem?

The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) is a partnership among governments, international organizations, and non-government organizations. It strives to preserve coral reefs and related ecosystems by implementing Chapter 17 of Agenda 21, and other relevant international conventions and agreements of the Convention on Biological Diversity, December 1994.

5 Dec is International Volunteer Day

On World Volunteer Day, a special THANK YOU to all the volunteers on the wildfilms crew and to the beachfleas and all the wonderful people who have supported the efforts for our shores.

There is much to do and it would not have been possible without all of you.

Excerpt of message from the UN Secretary-General
on International Volunteer Day, from the world volunteer web

The challenges facing our world are vast and complex -- from resolving conflicts and building peace, to alleviating poverty and reaching the other Millennium Development Goals.

Tackling these challenges requires all of us to work together -- Governments, international organizations, the private sector and civil society in its broadest sense.

Volunteers play an indispensable role in these efforts. Yet, the remarkable contribution of voluntary action around the world is not sufficiently recognized.

Full text of message on the wildsingapore news blog

Labrador's living intertidal shore

At high tide, when murky waters conceal the intertidal zone, most people might dismiss our shores as being dead. But just because we can't see anything, doesn't mean that there is nothing interesting on the shore.

An intertidal zone is the area of shore that is exposed (and covered) as the tide changes. At low tide, the water often becomes crystal clear and the wonderful range of marine life can be easily seen by ordinary people without having to swim or dive.

Here are some of the sights that we used to see on Labrador during low tides before it got impacted by coastal development and other works there.

A natural and complete intertidal zone is made up of several different kinds of ecosystems. The coral reefs found in deeper waters are part of the continuum of these ecosystems.
The Labrador Nature Reserve shore ecosytems include the coastal forest on the natural cliffs, the natural rocky shores, sandy shores, seagrass meadows, coral rubble and corals on the reef flats which are exposed at spring low tides. The subtidal reefs are part of these as well. These ecosystems are now rare and those on Labrador are the last on the mainland.

The different ecosystems interact and affect one another. Some marine life rely on the different ecosystems to survive. For example, some fishes shelter in seagrass meadows while they are small and move out to the reefs and deeper waters as they mature. Some prawns that we eat do the same.
Labrador's large meadow of Sickle seagrass (Thalassia hemprichii) are the last on the mainland, and probably the largest that are accessible to the general public. This is a photo of the seagrasses taken in Jan 05. Labrador also has patches of other kinds of seagrasses throughout the intertidal zone. There used to be a lush meadow of Spoon seagrasses (Halophila ovalis) where the cofferdam now is.

Sometimes, we would see large carpet anemones among the seagrasses. As elsewhere on our shores, these are homes to tiny anemoneshrimps.
Among the seagrasses were all kinds of fishes
Including the Milk-spotted pufferfish (Chelonodon patoca) and filefishes (Family Monacanthidae) The well camouflaged Feathery filefish (Chaetodermis penicilligerus) takes a keen eye to spot.
Mating Coastal horseshoe crabs (Tachypleus gigas) were sometimes seen on the shore. They are on the list of threatened animals of Singapore due to habitat loss.
Among the seagrasses, one might spot the pretty Moon crab, or the elusive but very common Hairy crab.

The coral rubble area may appear dead, but it's full of life! The dead corals provide a surface for animals such as sponges to grow. And fascinating creatures that feast on sponges may be found there.These include nudibranchs such as the stylishly margined pale yellow Glossodoris atromarginata and the brightly spotted green Ceratosoma sp. nudibranch.
These are two nudibranchs seen whose identity we're still not quite sure of.

Crabs, shrimps and other animals were also commonly seen among the coral rubble.The bright red Mosaic crab (Lophozozymus pictor) is highly poisonous to eat. It is also on the list of threatened animals of Singapore. Many kinds of swimming crabs were also encountered, but this one with the blue rings on its legs is seldom seen elsewhere.

The coral rubble is a great place to spot octopuses.
While divers often seldom encounter these animals, on the intertidal, we regularly see several of different sizes on a single trip. They are more active at night.

While there are a wide variety of snails on our shores, surely the most stunning must be the Spider conch (Lambis lambis).There were regularly seen on Labrador's intertidal shore.

Labrador intertidal got hard corals meh?
Yes, it does! And many different kinds too. There used to be a particularly large clump of branching corals that can be seen at low spring tide.
And other kinds of branching corals were also seen, such as Pocillopora sp.Branching hard corals shelter all kinds of animals, including seahorses!
There were also many large boulder corals, some half a metre or more in diameter.
The above are probably Favid hard corals.

Some unknown boulder corals in bright colours.

There were also several large Psammocora sp. hard corals.

There were also many colonies of disk- and plate-shaped hard corals.
Some plate corals covered large areas of a metre or more.

Encrusting corals like this Goniopora sp. is particularly common even among the coral rubble.
While Anemone hard corals (Goniopora sp.) are often mistaken for anemones rather than hard corals.Among the living hard corals on the intertidal are other animals such as soft corals and sea anemones such as the branched tentacle sea anemone (Phymanthus sp.) and small shy star-like anemones.Colourful reef fishes were also encountered on the intertidal.Such as these two kinds of butterflyfishes: the Kite butterflyfish (Parachaetodon ocellaris) and the Copperbanded butterflyfish (Chelmon rostratus).

A careful observer might spot the Spot-tail frogfish (Lophiocharon trisignatus)! It is actually quite regularly sighted by the wildfilms team as they are very experienced in documenting the shores.

The volunteer team that visits Labrador have been documenting all our shores for the last six years, in still and video. While we are there, we also monitor impacts to the shores such as collection, abandoned driftnets, fishtraps and other abandoned equipment, and impacts of coastal developments.

Among the issues raised in the past include
Poaching of hard corals on Labrador
Large amounts of driftnets abandoned at Berlayar Creek
Collection of rare animals on Changi
and impact of reclamation at Sentosa for the Integrated Resort
which includes comments on the EIA

The team also supports visiting scientists who come to study our shores including
trips with Dr Daphne Fautin (world authority on sea anemones)
trips with Dr Dan Rittschoff and his students from the US

The team also participates in studies of the shores such as
Kok Sheng's study of the recovery at Chek Jawa following the mass deaths earlier this year and Sijie's study of the dog-faced watersnake.

The team also works with efforts such as the relocation of corals at Labrador prior to work on the cofferdam.

Most of the team members are also very active volunteer guides on many of the walks offered to the public (Chek Jawa, Semakau) as well as with groups such the Naked Hermit Crabs and TeamSeagrass.