FAQ for TeamSeagrass

What is Seagrass Watch about?
From the Seagrass-Watch website ...

Seagrass-Watch is the largest scientific, non-destructive, seagrass assessment and monitoring program in the world.

Since it started in 1998 in Australia, it now covers 18 countries and 165 sites.

Seagrass-Watch aims to raise awareness of seagrass ecosystems and provide an early warning of major coastal environment changes. Seagrass-Watch monitoring efforts are vital in tracking global patterns in seagrass health, assess human impacts and support responsive management of seagrass areas.

To protect the valuable seagrass meadows along our coasts, everyone must work together.

What is TeamSeagrass about?
As part of Seagrass-Watch, we are a team of volunteers from all walks of life. We regularly monitor the seagrasses on Singapore's shores, gathering data that will help us better understand and manage our seagrass meadows. Yes! Singapore has wonderful seagrass meadows!

Who can join TeamSeagrass?
If you are 19 years or older, and you love the outdoors and want to learn more about our shores, you will be most welcomed to join in the effort. You will get a hearty 'Halo-phila' from the rest of the team (it's seagrass humour... which we hope you will appreciate, eventually).

I am not a scientist, can I join? Will there be any training?
Yes! Orientation will be provided and the scientific methods explained. Ordinary people should be able to pick up the methods. With practice, everyone should be able to help out with the monitoring. For this year, Orientation is scheduled for September. But if you join half way, just tag along with the team and learn. Kind of like on-the-job training.

How do the tides affect our work?
We can only monitor when the seagrasses are exposed at suitably low tides. "But aren't there two low tides a day?" I hear you ask. Indeed there are. But we need a super low tide when the seagrasses are well exposed. It is only during such super low tides that we can more easily take a closer look at the seagrasses. Here's more about low tides in Singapore on the wild shores of singapore blog and on the wildsingapore fact sheets.

Will the monitoring be done only on weekends?
Monitoring will be done when tides are suitable. Unfortunately, the tide waits for no man (or woman). So sometimes, monitoring dates will be on weekdays. So just sign up for those dates that you can come. (This year's monitoring dates are listed below)

What time of the day will monitoring be done?
Again, the tides decide these for us. In Singapore, suitably low tides are in the morning from around Apr-Aug and in the evening from Oct-Mar. (Estimated timing for this year's monitoring dates are listed below)

How often must I help out?
As often as you can! Practice makes things easier. Since we plan to cover a wide range of sites, going often also means you get to explore more places. It is really up to you and your schedule.

It can, however, be disruptive to you and your team-mates if you come very irregularly. You might then get out of practice which may affect the efficiency of the team and your enjoyment of the event.

So do consider your own availability before you commit to the team.

Ideally, you should be able to commit to several dates within a period of a few months for this to be enjoyable for yourself, and useful to the team. (This year's monitoring dates are listed below)

Where are the monitoring locations?
We will be covering Chek Jawa and Pulau Semakau which have vast seagrass meadows and a spectacular variety of seagrasses (and marine life). In addition, we will also be covering some adventurous off shore reefs such as Cyrene Reef. We will also be doing very accessible sites such as Sentosa. More about the monitoring locations, how to get there, etc.

Monitoring dates for 2009
Timing is an estimate, to be confirmed closer to the date (depends on transportation time etc)

evening tides
10 Jan (Sat): Chek Jawa (CJ-01)1400-1900hrs
12 Jan (Mon): Sentosa (SN-01) 1630-1930hrs
7 Feb (Sat): Pulau Semakau (PS-01) 1400-2000hrs

morning tides
29 Mar (Sun): Chek Jawa (CJ-02) 0600-1000hrs
1 Apr (Wed): Sentosa (SN-02) 0700-1000hrs
1 May (Fri) (public holiday): Pulau Semakau (PS-02) 0700hrs-12noon
10 Jun (Wed): Sentosa (SN-03) 0600-0900hrs
27 Jun (Sat): Chek Jawa (CJ-03) 0700hrs-12noon
26 Jul (Sun): Pulau Semakau (PS-03) 0700hrs-12noon
21 Aug (Fri): Sentosa (SN-04) 0600-0800hrs
23 Aug (Sun): Chek Jawa (CJ-04) 0600-1000hrs

evening tides
18 Oct (Sun): Pulau Semakau (PS-04) 1500-2000hrs

2009 Orientation
Scheduled for September 2009 (we've decided NOT to do one in September as we've already had one massive training session with International Seagrass-Watch in May. We're looking at doing the Orientation in early 2010 instead.)

There may be additional dates, and dates may change. Team members will be updated.

Where can I find out more about what goes on during a monitoring session?
This blog has lots of stories of our past adventures.

Dickson has also specially featured TeamSeagrass on his blue heaven blog: "A Day in the Life of a Seagrasser" Part 1 of and Part 2. Thanks Dickson!

The Dec 2008 Seagrass Watch Newsletter has an article highlighting the special moments of 2008 as well.

More about our monitoring locations and how to get there. And how to prepare for a monitoring trip.

How do I sign up for TeamSeagrass?
Simply email
(a) your full name
(b) your age
(c) your email address
(d) your contact number
(e) any previous experience in field work, outdoor nature activities, volunteering in nature work, with which groups? (it's OK if you don't have any)
to Ria at hello@wildsingapore.com (pls put "teamseagrass" in the subject line, this email gets a lot of spam)

What happens after I sign up?
Ria will contact you and put you on the TeamSeagrass yahoo mailing list.

You have to be on this mailing list. Updates about TeamSeagrass activities will ONLY be sent through this list. We are unable to send emails to individuals. The yahoo group also has lists of past messages about activities, and a database of activities that you can sign up for.

What do I have to prepare for a monitoring session?
Here's all the details!

Can I bring my family, my kids and friends along for a monitoring session?
The monitoring session is organised to carry out the work. You will be busy doing this work and it will be difficult to give attention to both the work and your family/friends. Your fellow TeamSeagrass members may also not be comfortable having non-team members who are not familiar with our processes. In addition, we are deeply concerned about impact to the very habitats that we are trying to monitor. Thus the number of people coming on each trip should be limited.

For a more enjoyable trip, bring your family and friends on the guided shore walks below.
Kusu ReefWalk with the Blue Water Volunteers
Pulau Semakau Intertidal walk with the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research volunteers
Chek Jawa walks with the Pulau Ubin NParks volunteers.
The Naked Hermit Crabs also conduct ad hoc walks on various shores including Sentosa, and a tour of the Chek Jawa boardwalk.

I have more questions!
Just email Ria at hello@wildsingapore.com (add "teamseagrass" to your subject line). I will try my best to answer them.