Pulau Semakau (3 November 2013)

What better way to celebrate Deepavali than to do our last monitoring of Pulau Semakau for 2013! It looked like a promising day, with most of the afternoon showers cleared by the time we met up at Marina South Pier. Unfortunately, we had to soldier on without three of our TeamSeagrass troopers – Siti, Rachel and Nor Aisha – who were all down with food poisoning from a very suspect ban mian stall.

TeamSeagrass preparing to leave for yet another public holiday survey

New email for submission of TeamSeagrass Quadrat Photos

This is a reminder, for those of you who haven't been submitting quadrat photos and for those of you who haven't heard. We have a new address to which you should send all future Quadrat Photos from your monitoring.

This address is teamseagrass.quadratphotos [at] gmail.com

Please put the Monitoring Site and Date (day/month/year) in your subject heading, so it's easier for us to file.

As usual, the correct method of labeling your quadrat photo is: 

[Site Code][Site No.][Transect No.]_[Meter Mark]_[Date:dd/mm/yy]

So for example, the 25m mark at Pulau Semakau, Site 2, Transect 3 on 24th
Nov 2007 is labeled like so:

PS2T3_25m_241107.jpg

As far as possible, try to keep file sizes to around 2MB max at a resolution of between 200-300dpi so we can zoom in to look at the grasses when needed. You can keep the photo uncropped so we can zoom in to check the meter mark on the transect tape if need be.

This is also a timely reminder to SUBMIT your photos if you haven't already. We are accepting backlog photos from since the beginning of TeamSeagrass monitoring as long as you label with the the monitoring date. All late submissions welcome and culprits will be forgiven(ish). :) 

Chek Jawa (21 September 2013)

TeamSeagrass was out and about at Chek Jawa for the first of our evening tides this year! It's been awhile since I blogged for any of our trips, so bear with me if this isn't the usual style of reporting.

The afternoon started off well enough, we got everyone to CJ in time for the outgoing low tide. We distributed the equipment and people into various groups and then realised that I had forgotten the pencils. Spectacular start to the day indeed. Fortunately for me, seagrassers are prepared a resourceful people, so out came the pens and pencils out of nooks and crevices hitherto long-forgotten. 

Cyrene Reef (10 August 2013)

TeamSeagrass celebrates another National Day on Cyrene Reef!

TeamSeagrass <3 Singapore!

And what a lovely, sunny day it was!

Pulau Semakau (28 July 2013)

Hello everyone! Team Seagrass is back again since the last training session on Chek Jawa last June... This time, we headed out to Pulau Semakau. Thank you to Johnson Ong, who made the effort to take all the photographs below.

Today's team consists of the old guard and new members! It's heartening to see that Team Seagrass is attracting more youths to participate in the monitoring and to explore our amazing shores. Here's a photo showing Siti giving a pre-trip briefing to find out everyone's previous monitoring experience.

"Good morning Team Seagrass", says Siti

TeamSeagrass at the Festival of Biodiversity 2013

The President visited the Festival! Nor Aishah took the opportunity of her brief meeting with him to share about TeamSeagrass.

Meanwhile, Pei Yan managed to get a smile out of him by showing him how the dugong leaves a feeding trail in our seagrass meadows.

TeamSeagrass were also out in force to help reach out to families in the shopping centre.

The Diversity and Distribution of Seagrass in Singapore

What seagrass species can we find in Singapore? Where can they be found? These and other important seagrass issues have never been rigorously documented. Until now!

TeamSeagrass monitoring the seagrasses at Chek Jawa
just in front of the mangroves there.

Siti, Rachel and Wei Ling have outlined these in their latest paper published in Nature in Singapore of the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research. They thank the members of TeamSeagrass for all their assistance and untiring dedication to monitoring seagrass in Singapore!

TeamSeagrass Training Level 2 (16 Jun 2013)

It's the last day of Seagrass-Watch training for a smaller group of TeamSeagrass! Today, we are going indepth for Level 2 training!

Here's our only group photo because we forgot to take one for all the other events!

Chek Jawa field training (15 Jun 2013)

It was a hot hot hazy day as the teams head out on the seagrass meadows of Chek Jawa.

A large contingent of TeamSeagrass are here not only for monitoring, but also field training with Seagrass-Watch.

Video clip of talk on "Singapore’s Underwater Meadows" by Dr. Len McKenzie

Thanks to Andy Dinesh, here's the video of the great introduction to seagrasses by Dr Len McKenzie of international Seagrass-Watch.

Why are seagrasses important? How does monitoring seagrass help protect marine ecosystems? And lots more!

Sentosa (12 Jun 2013)

How are the seagrasses doing on Sentosa? Particularly after the installation of the massive blue drums as part of a 'security barrier'.

I had a quick look as part of TeamSeagrass monitoring of this shore.

TeamSeagrass Training Level 1, Day 2 (9 Jun 2013)

Dr Len McKenzie and Rudi Yoshida of Seagrass-Watch conducted the second session of Level 1 training for TeamSeagrass today.

Len makes it fun to learn about seagrasses! Doing group work to think through some of the issues. Here's the winners at listing and ranking the importance of seagrasses.

TeamSeagrass Training Level 1, Day 1 (8 Jun 2013)

Dr Len McKenzie and Rudi Yoshida of Seagrass-Watch started the first of a series of training sessions for TeamSeagrass today.

We learn all about seagrasses and have lots of fun too!

12 Jun (Wed): Talk on "Singapore’s Underwater Meadows" by Dr. Len McKenzie

Why are seagrasses important? And what is being done for seagrasses in Singapore? How does monitoring seagrass in Singapore contribute to understanding global changes?

Len McKenzie and Rudi Yoshida of Seagrass-Watch guiding
TeamSeagrass monitoring on Pulau Semakau in 2007.

Find out at this special talk by Len McKenzie of international Seagrass-Watch who has been patiently guiding TeamSeagrass from the beginning.

Watching Seagrass Grow: Reflections of a Volunteer

Nor Aishah shares her journey with TeamSeagrass and why seagrasses are important.

Nor Aishah in striped shirt briefing the team at Chek Jawa.

Nor Aishah will be a familiar and reassuring figure to many regulars as she is now the main Seagrass Explainer, giving the pre-monitoring briefings for our trips. Here's Nor Aishah's story, and some parts she didn't quite highlight.

Cyrene Reef with Seagrass-Watch (14 Apr 2013)

A wet and windy start to our first Cyrene Reef trip for 2013!

But this didn't deter the rather large team that headed out early in the morning.

Latest Seagrass-Watch magazine highlights threats to seagrasses

Seagrasses all around the world face many threats. These are highlighted in the latest magazine of Seagrass-Watch with beautiful photos and great information.

Dredging, agricultural runoff, trawling, ports and shipping, boating, coastal development, invasive species, urban and industrial runoff. On the less gloomy side, there is also lots of information on mitigating the impacts of these threats as well as efforts in seagrass restoration.

New website on Blue Carbon science and policy

Coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, saltmarshes and seagrasses are some of the most productive on Earth. By storing ‘blue’ carbon from the atmosphere and oceans, they are an essential part of climate change mitigation.

TeamSeagrass monitoring the seagrasses at Chek Jawa
just in front of the mangroves there.

The knowledge and action to maintain and restore coastal ecosystems such as mangroves, saltmarshes and seagrasses have increased significantly in the last two years said the International Blue Carbon Initiative during the launch of a new website that provides the latest blue carbon science and policy.

Pulau Semakau (31 Mar 2013)

Well before sunrise, a team of dedicated volunteers gather for the first morning monitoring at Pulau Semakau!

Photo by Sean Yap.

Here's Siti giving the safety briefing to everyone.

Berlayar Creek (9 Feb 2013)

The narrow stretch of seagrasses along the eastern edge of the Berlayar Creek boardwalk is still there!

On a wet Lunar New Year Eve, Andy and I monitored this shore. Besides Spoon seagrasses, there were also two small patches of Tape seagrass in deeper water.

Chek Jawa (27 Jan 2013)

TeamSeagrass is back on shore for our first monitoring session of 2013!

We enjoyed great weather, saw wild boar, dugong feeding trails and had a chance to check up on the health of Chek Jawa. We also removed an abandoned driftnet.

Labrador (11 Jan 2013)

Pei Yan and I are back on Labrador to check up on the seagrasses here.

Some parts of this beleaguered shore still has good growths of seagrasses and they were blooming!