Seagrasses disappearing at Terumbu Semakau?

This submerged reef off Pulau Semakau had lush seagrass meadows when I last visited it in June 2010.

When I visited again yesterday, I was shocked to see how little seagrass remained there. The Tape seagrass (Enhalus acoroides) were all short and cropped. I saw several small patches like this. There were a few patches with sparse but long blades, mostly in the Sargassum zone.

Tuas (22 Dec 2011)

The last TeamSeagrass monitoring at Tuas and Sheryl is doing it alone!

Jerome and I were there to do a quick check of the shore, under threatening skies.

All about sea turtles in the latest Seagrass Watch magazine!

The latest issue of Seagrass Watch magazine is full of sea turtles!

Len and Rudi have also kindly included an article about Singapore's own Halophila beccarii, among the rarest seagrasses in the world! Read all about them in Seagrass-Watch Issue 44 Nov 2011

10 Dec (Sat): Talk on "Forests of the Sea" by Siti M. Yaakub

Seagrass meadows are one of the most productive ecosystems on earth, but no one knows what they are! Are they algae? Are they seaweed? Can they be eaten? Is it true you can find mermaids frolicking in seagrass meadows?

Our very own Siti M. Yaakub will teach us about these underwater forests! Find out more about Singapore's fascinating seagrasses and why everyone should hug a seagrass today!

Pulau Semakau (26 Nov 2011)

 It's our last monitoring session for 2011!

The weather was changeable, with sunshine and sprinkles, then wetter still. But this didn't stop this team of volunteers from checking up on the marvellous seagrass meadows of Pulau Semakau.

Cyrene Reef (24 Nov 2011)

Cyrene Reef is a submerged reef that is only exposed at low tide.

A small team arrive a little too early today, and the tide was still very high! But this didn't stop us from getting the monitoring done!

Chek Jawa (26 Oct 2011)

Uh oh! Big black clouds are gathering over Pulau Ubin and Chek Jawa!

That didn't stop a small team of enthusiastic volunteers from heading out to monitor seagrasses!

2012 TeamSeagrass dates now open for sign up!

Ready for more seagrassy adventures? We're heading into Year Five of seagrass monitoring!

In the coming year, all trips will be on weekends or public holidays! Hurray! The number of trips have been cut down to three times a year per site. But we will continue to do all three main sites: Pulau Semakau, Chek Jawa and Cyrene Reef.

New seagrass blog - by Siti!

There's an awesome new blog by the World Seagrass Association. And our very own Siti is managing it!

She has very kindly featured our Cyrene Reef seagrass meadows in a recent post on this blog! There's lots of other interesting posts too!

Tuas (27 Sep 11)

Sheryl is back alone on Tuas to do monitoring of seagrasses there.

But all the seagrasses in the study areas are GONE! Sheryl checked one of the sites nearer the seawall. The area is no longer sandy and is now very rocky and there are no seagrasses here anymore.

TeamSeagrass at the Biodiversity of Singapore Symposium III (24 Sep 11)

Jocelyn Sze shares about our work with Brigadier-General (NS) Tan Chuan-Jin, Minister of State (MOS) for National Development and Manpower. He is the Guest of Honour at the Biodiversity of Singapore Symposium III.

How nice to be able to share what we do with the more than 300 people who attended the Symposium!

Siti's seagrass poster at the Biodiversity Symposium

Siti's work on seagrasses in Singapore is being featured at the Biodiversity of Singapore Symposium III to be held tomorrow 24 Sep 2011!

Siti at work on Chek Jawa.

Here's a brief introduction to her poster...

How much are seagrasses worth?

A recent study estimates that Australia's coastal seagrass beds are worth $79 per hectare, based just on the carbon that seagrasses store.

From ARKive awesome images our biodiversity.

Sea grasses store 10 to 40 times as much carbon per hectare as forests, and Australia's sea-grass meadows are the largest in the world. The report, however, also noted that 29% of the world's sea grass beds had vanished since 1879. In Western Australia, about 1,000 hectares of sea grass were lost after a particularly warm summer.

16 Jul (Sat): Sharing about Singapore's seagrasses

Today, Wei Ling gave a talk about our seagrasses as part of NPark's “Forests, People, Environment” Exhibition which runs until 24 Jul at the Singapore Botanic Gardens.

There are many reasons why seagrasses are fascinating and important, among which is that much of our favourite seafood depend on seagrasses!

16 Jul (Sat): Talk on "Seagrass meadows of Singapore" by Lim Wei Ling

Wei Ling, one of the stalwart managers of TeamSeagrass, will be sharing about our awesome seagrass meadows and of course about TeamSeagrass!

Wei Ling finds a dugong feeding trail
on the seagrass meadows of Chek Jawa
during the first TeamSeagrass field session

Come for the talk to learn more about our seagrasses and our work. Bring your friends along!

Chek Jawa (3 July 2011) with otters!

A small intrepid team headed out for Chek Jawa to monitor the seagrasses there just after sunrise.

We had glimpses of otters! And saw signs of what might be dugong feeding trails! The Chek Jawa seagrass meadows are awesome!

Cyrene Reef (6 Jun 2011)

Under a threatening drippy sky, a brave small team heads out to Cyrene Reef to monitor the seagrasses here.

We land as usual, on the sandy stretch facing Pasir Panjang Container Terminal.

Pulau Semakau (21 May 2011)

It's a rather wet sunrise, but this does not deter a small team from heading out to the seagrass meadows at Pulau Semakau.

The wet weather actually made the walk to the shore a cool and pleasant one!

Seagrass Watch Magazine issue 43 (April 2011)

Natural disasters can devastate seagrasses!

In another great issue by Seagrass-Watch, find out more about how flooding and cyclones affect seagrass meadows.

Chek Jawa (24 Apr 2011)

A small team heads out to monitor the seagrasses of Chek Jawa this bright sunny morning.

The shores of Chek Jawa are covered in a green welcome carpet of fresh new Sea lettuce seaweed!

Tuas (19 Apr 11)

A small group of enthusiastic volunteers who work at the company next to the Tuas shore are back out this morning to monitor the seagrasses here. The tide was rather high, but this didn't deter the intrepid volunteers!

Today I found out that the company has changed hands! Despite this, the volunteers are still looking after the seagrasses here! Bravo!

Cyrene Reef (25 Mar 2011)

The tide is still high when the small team arrives at Cyrene on a hot sunny day!

In fact, the tide has been higher than tidal predictions over the last few days. Is it due to the recent tsunami? The 'supermoon'?

2011 is Pacific Year of the Dugong!

In the Pacific Islands region, the dugong is important in many traditions and cultures. Some of the most important remaining dugong habitats are in the Pacific region.
2011 has been declared the Pacific Year of the Dugong. This regional campaign aims to increase protection of dugongs and their habitats by raising awareness, improving knowledge and fostering to save Dugongs partnerships for conservation of dugongs and their habitats.

What are dugongs? Does Singapore have any dugongs? What can I do for dugongs in Singapore?

Pulau Semakau (19 Feb 11)

A huge team heads out to Pulau Semakau to do our first monitoring trip there for the year!

On this trip, we are joined by many others who will be working on the marine life and mangroves on Semakau.

Setting up loggers at Semakau (1 Feb 11)

Wow, a sunny day! A small team heads out to set up all kinds of cool data loggers at Pulau Semakau.

With the incessant rain for the last few days, we were braced for a very wet trip. But instead, we enjoyed lovely weather!

Logger retrieval at Chek Jawa (20 Jan)

Today, a small team joins Siti to retrieve the cool instruments she set up a few weeks earlier at Chek Jawa.

These instruments take readings of important environmental factors that might affect health of the seagrasses and marine life there. They have to be regularly checked.

New Additions to Seagrass-Monitoring for 2011

This year marks the FOURTH year of seagrass monitoring in Singapore. Who'd have thought we'd come this far when we first started out at Chek Jawa in 2007? And it's all thanks to YOU, our dedicated volunteers!

To kick off our fourth year of monitoring, we will now be measuring light and temperature data in addition to our regular monitoring protocol. Light and temperature are very important factors controlling seagrass growth and health and the information collected will enhance our regular monitoring data.

Chek Jawa (2 Jan 11)

Happy New Year from TeamSeagrass as we do our first monitoring for 2011!

The Team enjoyed a breezy sunny day as we monitored at Chek Jawa, as well as some NEW stuff ...