Tuas (15 Jun 10)

The weather wasn't cooperating, but a team of brave volunteers from Schering Plough led by the intrepid Sheryl and Helen went ahead for TeamSeagrass monitoring of the meadows just off their premises at Tuas.


Sheryl gives a briefing about seagrasses and the importance of monitoring them.
The dominant seagrass on this shore are Spoon seagrasses (Halophila ovalis). They are nice and fresh and green today. Today there's quite a lot of Sea lettuce seaweed (Ulva sp.) on the shore too.
This shore has a tiny patch of Tape seagrass (Enhalus acoroides). Which doesn't seem to be doing very well today.
Alas, the designated site at Tuas has no seagrasses as these have 'moved' to another part of the shore. So Sheryl and Helen had already done the monitoring in very quick time. Instead, the volunteers are given a tour of the shore by Helen. And Sheryl and Helen have already marked out some interesting sights for the volunteers! Here's some sea cucumbers commonly found on the shore.
The volunteers are fascinated as Helen shares about how crabs moult.
Soon the weather turned for the worse, with lightning and thunder. Before we leave the shore, a quick group shot!
Bravo to the team and let's hope we have better weather the next time around.

A small team comprising Mei Lin, Chay Hoon and Hoong Wei came much earlier to recce the shore and sadly, found a lot of coral bleaching. Read more about the coral bleaching at Tuas on wild shores of singapore. For more about coral bleaching, see Bleach Watch Singapore.