Oct 9, 2010

Tuas (8 Oct 10)

Yesterday, I joined Sheryl and Helen and the volunteers from Schering Plough who monitor the seagrass meadows at Tuas just outside their premises.
Alas, the shore there has changed dramatically. What used to be a sandy shore, is now very rocky!

As a result, there is very little seagrass in the area. A few patches of Spoon seagrasses (Halophila ovalis) struggle on among the rocks.
There are still some seagrasses on the sandier areas that remain. But these lie outside the study area.
On the seaward side of the shore, the Coin-seaweed (Halimeda sp.) has taken over.
These seaweeds have hard coin-shaped segments that are joined together.
Due to the lack of seagrass, the monitoring is done very quickly! So we have a look around at the shore. We head out to Merawang Beacon to check out the reefier parts. Things are looking livelier although there are still signs of coral bleaching there.
Back on the higher shore, there are also lots of interesting animals to see!
The ladies take a photo of the lovely sunset that is starting to develop over Merawang beacon.
A last look at the shore before we leave.
Read more about what we saw on the shore on the wild shores of singapore.

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