The beauty of Pulau Hantu

Many people will relate 'Hantu' as the Malay word for ghost and hence the island Pulau Hantu is literally referred to as "Ghost Island". The island is actually far from the spooky tales and myths of restless spirits or ghosts.

Pulau Hantu looks tiny compared to its refinery neighbour, Pulau Bukom.
Image from Google earth.

The whole of Pulau Hantu is formed by two separate "Hantu" islets - Hantu Besar (Big Ghost) and Hantu Kechil (Little Ghost).

Drone-ing Kusu Island

Located on one of Singapore's southern islands is this beautiful jetty and Chinese temple.

Panoramic view of the jetty

Chinese Temple

Where am I?

Quiet but great day guiding at Pulau Hantu

It was a quiet day on the intertidal shore at Pulau Hantu. Despite that we still managed to find interesting stuff for the youths of Jurong Spring Youth Club. I was helping The Hantu Bloggers as a guide.

Here's a group photo of the youth participants with the four guides. Joining us on the trip is Minister of State Desmond Lee.

Group photo
[Photo by MOS Desmond Lee on his Facebook]

Northern Beauty of Semakau

It was my first time checking the northern reef of Semakau. It was also the team's first time covering the whole reef of Semakau through a team effort.

Pink line marks the reef coverage the team covered on this trip.

Another team check the submerged reef next to Semakau's western reef, Terumbu Raya.

Oil spill reaches Pulau Semakau

On 29 January 2014, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) released a media statement about a collision between the departing Hong Kong-flagged chemical tanker, "Lime Galaxy" and the arriving China-flagged containership, "Feihe" in the evening at about 2.7 km, south of Jurong Island.

The media statement reported that "Feihe" sustained damages on her bunker tanks, resulting in some spillage of bunker fuel. Oil spill response companies were activated to support in the clean up efforts.

It is not revealed the exact location of the collision as Jurong Island is rather large but the image below shows the possible locations, mapped out by Ria Tan (wildsingapore).

Possible locations of the collision, mapped by Ria Tan.

The following day, 30 January 2014, MPA released another update about the collision: Collision between Lime Galaxy and Feihe - update 1

Kusu Reef: A reef with the lion city view under lots of stress

The reef at Kusu Island is rather unique. It is one reef that has a special view - The cityscape of Singapore. This view can be reach with a 15 mintues ferry ride from Marina South Pier.

Kusu reef with Singapore's cityscape in the distance.

Kusu Island is managed by Sentosa. All visitors are required to pay an entrance fee of SG$0.50 upon arrival at the island. On this island, there is a chinese temple and three Kramats. You can read more about Kusu Island here.

Kusu Island Oiled

On the eve of lunar new year, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) release a media statement regarding 'Contact between vessels NYK Themis and AZ Fuzhou' - MPA News centre, 30 January 2014.

A collision between the vessels happened at East Keppel Fairway at about 4 km south of Marina South. "NYK Themis" is a Panama-flagged containership while "AZ Fuzhou" is a barge being towed by "AZ Carnation". Here's a estimated location mapped out by Ria Tan (wildsingapore) to show collision spot.

Estimated collision site

The collision caused damages on the bunker tank of "NYK Themis", resulting in some spillage of bunker fuel. MPA's statement stated that "Oil spill response companies were also activiated to support the clean up efforts."

My love for TMSI-SJI

The Tropical Marine Science Institute, TMSI in short, is an institution formed with the National University of Singapore (NUS).  The institution aims to play a strong role in promoting integrated marine science, in research and development, as well as to establish itself as a regional and international education and training centre through active collaboration with academic, government and industrial sectors. Major research areas in TMSI are Marine Environmental Management; Underwater Remote Sensing and Oceanography.

TMSI homepage
www.tmsi.nus.edu.sg

There are two TMSI research facilities - one located on the main campus of NUS at Kent Ridge while second is located off mainland Singapore at St. John's Island (SJI). The institution also has research vessel, Galaxea, allowing researchers to conduct experiment in Singapore waters.

The Galaxea
[Image from TMSI's webpage, http://www.tmsi.nus.edu.sg/research-facilities-galaxea]

A new year, a new life on Chek Jawa

The new year marks the start of a slow progression towards intertidal fieldtrips as the low tide period starts to get lower and shifts from evening low tides to morning low tides. It is a great feeling to be back on the shore again, after about 1.5 months break due to the unfavourable low tides since mid November last year.

The first intertidal fieldtrip of 2014 begins at Chek Jawa. With heavy rain pouring almost daily throughout November to December and the eastern part of peninsular Malaysia being hit by floods, we were worried if Chek Jawa will be affected by large amount of freshwater flowing down the Johor river. Chek Jawa is located on the eastern end of Pulau Ubin where discharge from the nearby Johor River is directed at.

Location of Johor River mouth.

Tanjung Rimau Security Barriers - Some changes and slight improvements

The sky presented itself with a beautiful sunset as I did an update on the security barriers at Tanjung Rimau, Sentosa.

Sunset from Sentosa

How have the security barriers progressed after my last visit in August 2013? Were there improvements done or has situation worsened?

Cephaly, Fidderly and Tape Flowery at Semakau

It was a rather hot day today as we journey to Pulau Semakau for another intertidal survey session. The team had visited this part of the shore a few months ago on National Day.

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.

Anchored barge with stacks of white sacks.

Neatly constructed shelter

More than 160 kg of rubbish found on Pulau Ubin shores [English news report]

Following up on the Chinese news report about the coastal trash on the Nothern part of Pulau Ubin, Channel News Asia and Today newspaper reported about the same news in English. My friend has updated that on the same evening the Chinese news clip was broadcasted, the English news also reported about it with a separate video clip.

In case you have missed the videos or did not read my previous post, here are the videos

Channel 8 News (Chinese)

Channel NewsAsia (English)


Here is the news article accompanying the English video clip:

SINGAPORE: A recent clean-up of the beaches at Pulau Ubin led by Outward Bound Singapore saw more than 160 kilogrammes of waste being collected.

Volunteers found fishing nets and abandoned barrels among the usual plastic bags and bottles in the rubbish deposited at Pulau Ubin's northern shores.

Chua Li San, head of character and curriculum development at Outward Bound Singapore, said: "We don't know what is actually being contained in those barrels. Is it petroleum or is it some other petrochemical waste?

"The fishing nets... we don't know if any fishes or birds will be trapped by the nets.

"Is cleaning the beach the only solution? We need to do something more extensively... to educate people."

Fishermen said they usually bring their rubbish to the collection point at the nearby Marina Country Club and added that some of the waste could have floated over from kelongs at the opposite shores of neighbouring countries.

The Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority said it is an offence for fish farmers to dispose waste into sea waters.

- CNA/ec

Coastal Trash at Northern Ubin [Chinese News Report]

A few days ago, Ria wrote a blog post about fish farm trash found and removed from the northern shore of Pulau Ubin despite the coastline being lined with security fence. The cleanup activity was coordinated by Chua Li San from Outward Bound Singapore. Officers from the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) and the National Environment Agency (NEA) were invited to view the situation from the seaward side. You can read more about from Ria's blog post here.

Today, Mediacorp's Channel 8 evening and night newscast reported about this situation and interviewed a few fish farms nearby.

Here is the news clip from Channel 8 news' youtube channel.

For the benefit of my readers who do not understand Chinese, I have translated the content of the video. It is not 100% translated but I tried my best to translate as accurately as possible the main points covered in the news report. I also did the Chinese transcribe of the video.

Translation (Coastal trash at Northern Ubin)The northern shore of Pulau Ubin is often seen littered with large amount of trash. In the most recent cleanup event, volunteers removed 165 kg of trash within a day. News reporter found out that among the list of items removed are abandoned fishnets and chemical containing plastic drums. These items may pose threats to and damage the ecological environment.  

Narrator: 

Otter rolling around on the sand, heron resting on the fence. However, oil drums, styrofoam boxes and plastic bags are littering all around. Outward Bound Singapore (OBS), who regularly organises coastal cleanup for the public volunteers, commented that such sights are common.  

Interviewee (OBS): 

Just two weeks after the cleanup, we found a refrigerator here. Why are there still oil drums present? Why are there still items used by the fish farms found here?  

Narrator: 

In the nearby fish farms, a fish farmer commented that the fish farms dispose their trash in the marina country club nearby. As for the oil drums, it is possible that they were either not securely tied or dislodged by the strong waves.  

Interviewee (Fish farm): 

During presence of strong waves, the ropes securing the drums may break, resulting in the drums to be displaced and float out. The direction in which the drums float to depends on the direction of the wind.The wire fences on the security barriers are old and damaged with holes. At high tide, if the trash is floating near the holes on the fence, they will be washed through towards the shore.  

Narrator: 

The fish farmers also feedback that sometimes during strong northerly winds, trash from the kelong of neighbouring country also gets swept in the direction of Pulau Ubin. Volunteers have noticed fish trapped and killed by abandoned fishnets along the coastline. Disposed plastic drums are found to have contained chemicals.  

Reporter: 

Although OBS and public volunteers have access to this Northern shore on Pulau Ubin to conduct cleanup sessions, it was not enough to resolve the root cause of this problem – a measure to control those who discard trash illegally or those who are irresponsible in their trash management. It is unknown, at the moment, the kind of marine damage or pollution these trash can cause. Personnel from AVA and NEA visited this area last Saturday (5 October 2013) to conduct some checks. AVA emphasised that it is an offence for fish farmers to dispose their trash into the sea. Currently, no one has been fined for such offence.

I'll be glad to update this translation should you have better translated sentence(s).

Seems like the fish farmer made it sound so easy for the floating trash to just pass through the broken security fence during high tide. I am sure that some of the items removed from the shore could not float. So how did these items get onto the shore then?
I do have some doubts about the accuracy of information in this news report.

What about you? I welcome you to raise any questions you might have from this news report. Just drop me a comment with your name.

Amazing reef at Pulau Semakau's northern shore

Pulau Semakau, the island where many people know it as a landfill island being filled up by ash of incinerated rubbish disposed by us on Mainland Singapore. Not many people are aware of the flora and fauna beauty of Semakau. On the western side of this landfill island is an intertidal beauty consisting of mangrove trees, seagrass and coral reef along the reef edge.

Map of Semakau Lanfill and nearby submerged reefs.
[Google map by Ria Tan]

The shoreline is pretty long. You can probably walk the whole shore within the intertidal period if you only focus on the walking aspect, do nothing but walk.

Huge sea star and orange flatworm at Chek Jawa

Exactly one month ago,  a small team of us visited Chek Jawa for an intertidal survey trip. During that trip, we covered the Eastern and Northeastern part of Chek Jawa. You can read about my sightings from my earlier post about that trip.

Today we visited Chek Jawa again for another intertidal survey, but we started from the Southern side (in front of House No. 1) and worked our way towards the Chek Jawa front beacon.

Chek Jawa Front beacon

We started off by checking the pillars of the jetty in front of House No. 1 at Chek Jawa.

First step on the land of FROG.

Off the southeastern coast of Pulau Ubin sits a little island. During high tide, all you can see are rocks emerging from the splashing waves, and maybe some land. During a very low spring tide, this island reveals its hidden land full of life.

This not-so-little little island is Pulau Sekudu, or Frog Island. There are no frogs congregating on the island (though I think I heard some croaking going on). Pulau Sekudu got its name from a legend. You can read about the legend from this webpage done up by Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research (RMBR).

It was the first time I place my foot on this island. The very first animal that "welcomed" me was an anemone.

Anemone, almost completely retracted.

Updates on Security Barrier at Tanjung Rimau, Sentosa

Today I visited Tg Rimau at Sentosa for a purpose in mind. I wanted to check out on the security barriers placed on this shore and have a visual update since my last visit in April 2013. It was a chilly and windy short walk to the shore, located right next to Shangri-La Rasa Sentosa Resort & Spa Singapore. Even the water was cold early in the morning.

I was rather astound by the sight when I reached the beach.

Tg Rimau with the security barrier visible on the shore.

The security barrier line looked very different from what I saw in April 2013, which I blogged about it in my post here.

New surprises at Cyrene Reef with Large seastar and Cone snail

Cyrene Reef never fails to surprise us. Seated in a major shipping lane surrounded by the container terminal on the mainland and petrochemical plants on two island, there is always something interesting to see during each intertidal trip despite its location.

What a large Astropecten sp. seastar I found trying to burrow itself into the sand. It is as big has my hand!

Size of Astropecten seastar

My first Chek Jawa intertidal survey trip

'If music be the food of love, play on.' - Twelfth Night, William Shakespeare

It is not the sound of love when many mosquitos were buzzing close to my ears throughout the intertidal survey trip at Chek Jawa. This trip has got to be the earliest intertidal survey trip I had ever embarked on. The mosquitos were not the only organisms expressing their "love" to me. My nose was also expressing its "love" to me as I sniff, sniff, sniff and even more sniffing throughout the whole time I was on the shore.

My nose and the mosquitos may be hindering my attention span on the shore, but my vision did not fail me. On my very first intertidal survey trip on Chek Jawa, there are many interesting critters to be seen.

Reaching the shore at about 2am, the tide was still quite high for the coral rubble area to be exposed. We began our survey by checking the pillars that supports the boardwalk along the coast. It was full of life.

There were plenty of these tube structures weaved on the pillar surfaces, which I think are worm tubes.

Worm tubes?

Special shrimp and parchment worm at Changi

What a pretty shrimp found on a Haddon's carpet anemone (Stichodactyla haddoni). According to Marcus Ng, it is Ancyclomenes holthuisi.

Ancyclomenes holthuisi

This shrimp was found on the very last carpet anemone that I was checking on for the usual Five-spot anemone shrimp (Periclimenes brevicarpalis) today at Changi Beach. Even Ria was intrigued by this special shrimp.