The intrepid young ladies of RGS were out on Labrador for seagrass monitoring. In high spirits as the tide went low. Read all about their trip on their labrador blog.
May 24, 2007
Young Seagrassers at Labrador (22 Apr 07)
The intrepid young ladies of RGS were out on Labrador for seagrass monitoring. In high spirits as the tide went low. Read all about their trip on their labrador blog.
May 21, 2007
Seagrass Watch around the world
While we've been busy with our monitoring sessions, here's what the rest of International Seagrass Watch have been up to...
At Bolinao in the Philippines, they are doing exactly what Siti is trying to make us do at Semakau! I guess we should be grateful the water is not THAT deep at Semakau when we do our monitoring :-)
It's quite exciting what we might find along our transect lines as we do our monitoring. Here is what the folks at Midge Point found next to their transect line!
Unfortunately, the poor turtle wasn't well and had swellings on its body.
Well I guess our shark sighting at Semakau is quite exciting. Even though it wasn't right next to the transect line. Perhaps if we did the monitoring at really high water it might be so...hmmm.
We're also featured on the website!
View all the photos and get updates on the International Seagrass Watch gallery
At Bolinao in the Philippines, they are doing exactly what Siti is trying to make us do at Semakau! I guess we should be grateful the water is not THAT deep at Semakau when we do our monitoring :-)It's quite exciting what we might find along our transect lines as we do our monitoring. Here is what the folks at Midge Point found next to their transect line!
Unfortunately, the poor turtle wasn't well and had swellings on its body.Well I guess our shark sighting at Semakau is quite exciting. Even though it wasn't right next to the transect line. Perhaps if we did the monitoring at really high water it might be so...hmmm.
We're also featured on the website!
View all the photos and get updates on the International Seagrass Watch gallery
Tuas with Schering Plough (21 May 07)
It was time to monitor the Tuas seagrasses again, and our friends at Schering Plough were out to do the job despite the threatening weather.
After a briefing by experienced TeamSeagrassers Sheryl and Helen, the volunteers were off to do this small but grassy shore.
Sheryl led one team to do the patch near the sea wall,
While Helen led another to do the patch in the middle of the sandy shore. Today's monitoring was rather like Christmas "HO-HO-HO" all the way (Seagrass joke, you have to be a Seagrasser to get it, sorry).
Very soon, they were done with monitoring and we went to have a little look around before the tide came in. The fluffy 'Teddy Bear' crab or Hairy crab (Pilumnus sp.) is always a big hit; with its beady eyes and almost cuddly look. The Tiger moon snail (Natica tigrina) is quite common on this shore, but rarely seen elsewhere.
The tide wasn't low enough for us to have a look at the reefs, but among the coral rubble were lots of colourful sponges. We also saw several big and healthy carpet anemones as well as lots of hermit crabs.
The Find of the Day for me was this huddle of determined Drills (Family Muricidae). They were firmly stuck to a clam, which must certainly be shivering in its valves. The Drills clung on tenaciously even though I turned the bunch slightly to show everyone what was going on. Drills can patiently and slowly drill a hole through the shells of snails and clams. I think the clam is doomed.
The undisturbed Tuas shore is also a great place for herons to fish. This pair was busy on the reefs near the Merawang beacon.
The staff at Schering Plough are not only involved in TeamSeagrass, but have also been diligently replanting the shore with mangroves! Helen showed me some of the replanted areas while we waited for the volunteers to arrive before the start of the seagrass monitoring.
Here's one large replanted patch, facing the second causeway in the distance.
Another patch among existing mangrove trees.
And yet another patch! Our seagrass monitoring area is behind in the background.
I also learnt that Shering Plough staff are also helping out with terrestrial reforestation.
Wow! I'm impressed!
Thank you to friends at Shering Plough for doing the seagrass monitoring today: Farhana, Jernice Lee, Rachel Lee, Oh Meng Hui. And of course, intrepid TeamSeagrassers Sheryl and Helen for organising their colleagues for this effort. Sheryl and Helen are full blooded TeamSeagrassers who also monitor our other shores.
After a briefing by experienced TeamSeagrassers Sheryl and Helen, the volunteers were off to do this small but grassy shore.
Sheryl led one team to do the patch near the sea wall,
While Helen led another to do the patch in the middle of the sandy shore. Today's monitoring was rather like Christmas "HO-HO-HO" all the way (Seagrass joke, you have to be a Seagrasser to get it, sorry).
Very soon, they were done with monitoring and we went to have a little look around before the tide came in. The fluffy 'Teddy Bear' crab or Hairy crab (Pilumnus sp.) is always a big hit; with its beady eyes and almost cuddly look. The Tiger moon snail (Natica tigrina) is quite common on this shore, but rarely seen elsewhere.
The tide wasn't low enough for us to have a look at the reefs, but among the coral rubble were lots of colourful sponges. We also saw several big and healthy carpet anemones as well as lots of hermit crabs.
The Find of the Day for me was this huddle of determined Drills (Family Muricidae). They were firmly stuck to a clam, which must certainly be shivering in its valves. The Drills clung on tenaciously even though I turned the bunch slightly to show everyone what was going on. Drills can patiently and slowly drill a hole through the shells of snails and clams. I think the clam is doomed.
The undisturbed Tuas shore is also a great place for herons to fish. This pair was busy on the reefs near the Merawang beacon.The staff at Schering Plough are not only involved in TeamSeagrass, but have also been diligently replanting the shore with mangroves! Helen showed me some of the replanted areas while we waited for the volunteers to arrive before the start of the seagrass monitoring.
Here's one large replanted patch, facing the second causeway in the distance.
Another patch among existing mangrove trees.
And yet another patch! Our seagrass monitoring area is behind in the background.I also learnt that Shering Plough staff are also helping out with terrestrial reforestation.
Wow! I'm impressed!
Thank you to friends at Shering Plough for doing the seagrass monitoring today: Farhana, Jernice Lee, Rachel Lee, Oh Meng Hui. And of course, intrepid TeamSeagrassers Sheryl and Helen for organising their colleagues for this effort. Sheryl and Helen are full blooded TeamSeagrassers who also monitor our other shores.
May 20, 2007
Semakau (20 May 07)
TeamSeagrass is back in action for the super low tides of May. And it's time to check out Semakau again!
A rather sleepy bunch arrived on the landfill jetty in the pink glow of first light. This portion of the Semakau Landfill where Siti is giving the Traditional Wake-Up Briefing, is the location of the former Pulau Saking. It overlooks industrial installations on Pulau Bukom (in the background).
The Semakau Landfill is of course, the place where ALL our rubbish ends up. It might thus seem surprising to find seagrasses nearby. And astonishing that this is probably Singapore's LARGEST seagrass meadow.
The landfill was created by building a very long seawall on top of Pulau Saking and over the eastern half of Pulau Semakau. The western half of Semakau is left in its original natural condition. The landfill was specially built and carefully operated so that this natural part of Semakau continues to thrive.
And here is the team, on the shore, ready to monitor those vast seagrass meadows!
Shawn and I did one transect together. At the Dreaded Transect 2, with squishy mud soft and treacherous and often knee deep in water. Both of us had a hard time with tiny seagrass features and reading off minute markings on the ruler. We declared thereafter that old people with bad eyesight shouldn't be paired with one another :-)
But Shawn and I had a great time finding ALL the species including the Noodle seagrass (Syringodium isoestifolium) which he hasn't seen before! Oh, except Spoon seagrass (Halophila ovalis), which were there but outside the transect area. Semakau is indeed a fabulous seagrass site!
The vast seagrass meadows are home to all kinds of animals. A perfect horseshoe crab moult was found next to Dickson's transect line. Helen found a juvenile batfish next to her transect line!
After the monitoring, we wandered around for a while before the tide came in. A sea snake was spotted! Busy foraging in the reef edge. Elsewhere, Budak and team saw a huge synaptid sea cucumber. And Dickson and his team saw lots of stuff too, all shared on his blue heaven blog.
I worked hard today as several people didn't turn up for the trip. So I didn't get to take many photos. And it got really hot as the day progressed. Whereupon, I meandered quickly over to the shady coastal forest.
On the way there, I disturbed hordes of sand bubbler crabs (Dotilla sp.) and Orange fiddler crabs (Uca vocans) on the vast sandy shore.
The shore is lined with mangrove trees. Pulau Semakau has lots of mature mangroves with some rare species. These on the shore are Api api trees (Rhizophora sp). These trees can live partially submerged in the sea and have special roots to stay upright in the soft mud.
Though the trees look similar, they are different. One way you can tell them apart is by their flowers. Rhizophora stylosa and Rhizophora mucronata have flowers on long stalks, while Rhizophora apiculata has chunky flowers stuck on the stem.
Mangrove trees also provide handy shade for tired and hot TeamSeagrassers!
All too soon, the tide turned and it was time to head back.
We not only monitored the shore, but also removed several fish and crab traps (Shawn is hauling one here in the photo). Budak had an encounter with the perpetrator of the many driftnets and traps we have been finding on this shore. He shares this encounter as well as other sad results of these wasteful fishing habits on the budak blog.
After a quick wash up, the team headed down to the southern most point of Semakau on the landfill. Here, we had a breathtaking view of the Southern islands under a blue blue sky. Some of the regulars (who had "been there, done that and bought the t-shirt") opted to remain on the air-con bus and proceeded to demolish a packet of peanuts.
On the way back, we drive along the huge lagoon created out of the landfill walls but which have yet to be filled up. Helen was just mentioning that we saw a shark the last time we were there when Andy yelled "Shark!". The bus was quickly stopped and everyone rushed out to have a closer look.
Kevin took a shot of the shark! It was a Black tipped reef shark Have a look at his nature spies blog for the photo. It was indeed a Shark Frenzy. With the humans being in a frenzy for a change.
Pulau Semakau is indeed a strange paradox of landfill and natural beauty. The landfill is good for another 40 years. If we reduce, reuse and recycle, the landfill may last longer. Thus sparing the surrounding spectacular natural shores from further development. Each one of us CAN make a difference for Semakau!
Thank you to all the TeamSeagrasses who turned up today: Andy, Dickson, Gaytri, Helen, Jing Kai, Kevin, Marcus, Robin, Shawn, Siti Nurbaya, Tze Chien, Wilson, Yvonne, Ci Pei, Su Pang, Violet and Muratti.
For more about this island: there was recently an article about Pulau Semakau: Pulau Semakau: Island paradise . . . and landfill By Matthew Phan Business Times 11 May 07. Jeffrey Low also commented on this article on his blog with lots of information about this special island.
A rather sleepy bunch arrived on the landfill jetty in the pink glow of first light. This portion of the Semakau Landfill where Siti is giving the Traditional Wake-Up Briefing, is the location of the former Pulau Saking. It overlooks industrial installations on Pulau Bukom (in the background).The Semakau Landfill is of course, the place where ALL our rubbish ends up. It might thus seem surprising to find seagrasses nearby. And astonishing that this is probably Singapore's LARGEST seagrass meadow.
The landfill was created by building a very long seawall on top of Pulau Saking and over the eastern half of Pulau Semakau. The western half of Semakau is left in its original natural condition. The landfill was specially built and carefully operated so that this natural part of Semakau continues to thrive.
And here is the team, on the shore, ready to monitor those vast seagrass meadows!
Shawn and I did one transect together. At the Dreaded Transect 2, with squishy mud soft and treacherous and often knee deep in water. Both of us had a hard time with tiny seagrass features and reading off minute markings on the ruler. We declared thereafter that old people with bad eyesight shouldn't be paired with one another :-)But Shawn and I had a great time finding ALL the species including the Noodle seagrass (Syringodium isoestifolium) which he hasn't seen before! Oh, except Spoon seagrass (Halophila ovalis), which were there but outside the transect area. Semakau is indeed a fabulous seagrass site!
The vast seagrass meadows are home to all kinds of animals. A perfect horseshoe crab moult was found next to Dickson's transect line. Helen found a juvenile batfish next to her transect line!
After the monitoring, we wandered around for a while before the tide came in. A sea snake was spotted! Busy foraging in the reef edge. Elsewhere, Budak and team saw a huge synaptid sea cucumber. And Dickson and his team saw lots of stuff too, all shared on his blue heaven blog.I worked hard today as several people didn't turn up for the trip. So I didn't get to take many photos. And it got really hot as the day progressed. Whereupon, I meandered quickly over to the shady coastal forest.
On the way there, I disturbed hordes of sand bubbler crabs (Dotilla sp.) and Orange fiddler crabs (Uca vocans) on the vast sandy shore.
The shore is lined with mangrove trees. Pulau Semakau has lots of mature mangroves with some rare species. These on the shore are Api api trees (Rhizophora sp). These trees can live partially submerged in the sea and have special roots to stay upright in the soft mud.
Though the trees look similar, they are different. One way you can tell them apart is by their flowers. Rhizophora stylosa and Rhizophora mucronata have flowers on long stalks, while Rhizophora apiculata has chunky flowers stuck on the stem.
Mangrove trees also provide handy shade for tired and hot TeamSeagrassers!
All too soon, the tide turned and it was time to head back.We not only monitored the shore, but also removed several fish and crab traps (Shawn is hauling one here in the photo). Budak had an encounter with the perpetrator of the many driftnets and traps we have been finding on this shore. He shares this encounter as well as other sad results of these wasteful fishing habits on the budak blog.
After a quick wash up, the team headed down to the southern most point of Semakau on the landfill. Here, we had a breathtaking view of the Southern islands under a blue blue sky. Some of the regulars (who had "been there, done that and bought the t-shirt") opted to remain on the air-con bus and proceeded to demolish a packet of peanuts.
On the way back, we drive along the huge lagoon created out of the landfill walls but which have yet to be filled up. Helen was just mentioning that we saw a shark the last time we were there when Andy yelled "Shark!". The bus was quickly stopped and everyone rushed out to have a closer look.
Kevin took a shot of the shark! It was a Black tipped reef shark Have a look at his nature spies blog for the photo. It was indeed a Shark Frenzy. With the humans being in a frenzy for a change.Pulau Semakau is indeed a strange paradox of landfill and natural beauty. The landfill is good for another 40 years. If we reduce, reuse and recycle, the landfill may last longer. Thus sparing the surrounding spectacular natural shores from further development. Each one of us CAN make a difference for Semakau!
Thank you to all the TeamSeagrasses who turned up today: Andy, Dickson, Gaytri, Helen, Jing Kai, Kevin, Marcus, Robin, Shawn, Siti Nurbaya, Tze Chien, Wilson, Yvonne, Ci Pei, Su Pang, Violet and Muratti.
For more about this island: there was recently an article about Pulau Semakau: Pulau Semakau: Island paradise . . . and landfill By Matthew Phan Business Times 11 May 07. Jeffrey Low also commented on this article on his blog with lots of information about this special island.
Apr 22, 2007
Chek Jawa (22 Apr 07)
TeamSeagrass was back on the shore for an early tide.
We gathered at Changi Jetty as dawn broke, and headed sleepily out to Pulau Ubin.
Shortly, we are all ready to monitor. This after Shufen explains the New and Improved Field boxes for keeping track of equipment.
While the busy Seagrassers head off to the seagrass lagoon to monitor, I decide to check out the coral rubble area to see how things are since the mass deaths at Chek Jawa we encountered earlier in the year.
The seagrasses were certainly doing very well in the area. With lots of healthy Fern seagrasses (Halophila spinulosa) complete with all their little fronds. As well as thickets of other seagrasses like Spoon seagrass (Halophila ovalis) and Needle seagrass (Halodule sp.).
(Siti's note: The seagrasses on the seaward side were HUGE and were growing thick and lush. Shufen and myself finally understood the reason behind Halophila ovalis's common name - the Spoon Seagrass- because the ones we found that day were literally like SPOONS, as big as our thumbs! There's certainly lots of food at Chek Jawa for hungry migrating dugongs passing through Singapore)
The carpet anemones were also doing much better. They were large and relaxed and many in the usual brilliant colours. Many crabs were out and about. Large swimming crabs in all colours and lots of hairy crabs too.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much else there. All sponges and encrusting animals have yet to recover. And with them the colourful flatworms and nudibranchs we usually encounter. There were few snails and only dead fanshells (Pinna sp.).
It got hot, I got slack and so I decided to check out the coastal forest that rings Chek Jawa.
The beautiful Delek air trees (Memecylon edule) were blooming! With clusters of bright bluish flowers. These trees are now rare because the coastal habitat where they grow have been lost.
Equally rare is the Nyatoh tree (Pouteria linggensis). It was blooming and fruiting! The only other specimens of these trees are found on Lazarus island.
I made a quick foray into the mangroves as well.
The amazing Nyireh bunga (Xylocarpus granatum) has large cannon-ball shaped fruits. The flowers are tiny!
Chek Jawa is amazing because it has so many different ecosystems in one location. The boardwalk construction seems almost complete. And soon, everyone can enjoy these beautiful ecosystems.
I met up with the Seagrassers at the end of the tide. They saw filefishes, a large flatfish, and Budak and Helen had a strange encounter with a transparent sea cucumber. Dickson shares more about the Team's encounters on his blue heaven blog. And Jenn Chye, who has just joined the Team, shares on his solonavi blog.
Thank you to team members who came for the monitoring! Chay Hoon, Ley Kun, Lyn, May Yee, Jenn Chye, Faizah, Dickson, Sijie, Andy, Marcus, Nor Aishah and Gaytri. And Wilson for being such a gentleman as always.
TeamSeagrass had a very busy weekend with FOUR monitoring sessions. Besides the one at Sentosa, Cyrene and Chek Jawa, the RGS girls also did Labrador on Sunday. The Sentosa and Labrador monitoring was to make up for the non-compliant tides at the earlier scheduled dates. Cyrene has just been added to the monitoring schedule.
There's lots to do, and lots to see!
Come join us for the upcoming monitoring sessions!
We gathered at Changi Jetty as dawn broke, and headed sleepily out to Pulau Ubin.
Shortly, we are all ready to monitor. This after Shufen explains the New and Improved Field boxes for keeping track of equipment.
While the busy Seagrassers head off to the seagrass lagoon to monitor, I decide to check out the coral rubble area to see how things are since the mass deaths at Chek Jawa we encountered earlier in the year.
The seagrasses were certainly doing very well in the area. With lots of healthy Fern seagrasses (Halophila spinulosa) complete with all their little fronds. As well as thickets of other seagrasses like Spoon seagrass (Halophila ovalis) and Needle seagrass (Halodule sp.).(Siti's note: The seagrasses on the seaward side were HUGE and were growing thick and lush. Shufen and myself finally understood the reason behind Halophila ovalis's common name - the Spoon Seagrass- because the ones we found that day were literally like SPOONS, as big as our thumbs! There's certainly lots of food at Chek Jawa for hungry migrating dugongs passing through Singapore)
The carpet anemones were also doing much better. They were large and relaxed and many in the usual brilliant colours. Many crabs were out and about. Large swimming crabs in all colours and lots of hairy crabs too.Unfortunately, there wasn't much else there. All sponges and encrusting animals have yet to recover. And with them the colourful flatworms and nudibranchs we usually encounter. There were few snails and only dead fanshells (Pinna sp.).
It got hot, I got slack and so I decided to check out the coastal forest that rings Chek Jawa.
The beautiful Delek air trees (Memecylon edule) were blooming! With clusters of bright bluish flowers. These trees are now rare because the coastal habitat where they grow have been lost.
Equally rare is the Nyatoh tree (Pouteria linggensis). It was blooming and fruiting! The only other specimens of these trees are found on Lazarus island.I made a quick foray into the mangroves as well.
The amazing Nyireh bunga (Xylocarpus granatum) has large cannon-ball shaped fruits. The flowers are tiny!Chek Jawa is amazing because it has so many different ecosystems in one location. The boardwalk construction seems almost complete. And soon, everyone can enjoy these beautiful ecosystems.
I met up with the Seagrassers at the end of the tide. They saw filefishes, a large flatfish, and Budak and Helen had a strange encounter with a transparent sea cucumber. Dickson shares more about the Team's encounters on his blue heaven blog. And Jenn Chye, who has just joined the Team, shares on his solonavi blog.
Thank you to team members who came for the monitoring! Chay Hoon, Ley Kun, Lyn, May Yee, Jenn Chye, Faizah, Dickson, Sijie, Andy, Marcus, Nor Aishah and Gaytri. And Wilson for being such a gentleman as always.
TeamSeagrass had a very busy weekend with FOUR monitoring sessions. Besides the one at Sentosa, Cyrene and Chek Jawa, the RGS girls also did Labrador on Sunday. The Sentosa and Labrador monitoring was to make up for the non-compliant tides at the earlier scheduled dates. Cyrene has just been added to the monitoring schedule.
There's lots to do, and lots to see!
Come join us for the upcoming monitoring sessions!
Cyrene Reef (21 Apr 07)
Another dawn arrival by the intrepid Team on this submerged reef near Singapore's container terminal. The city skyline is hazy in the distance as rain fell there from a angry pile of big clouds sparkling with lightning. We were SO glad it didn't head our way.It was a lean team that landed for the first TeamSeagrass monitoring of this very grassy reef. We quickly headed out to nearby Transect 1 to set up the lines.
Andy was obviously very ready to whack something with the Team Mallet. Fortunately, the ladies quickly figured out where to place the markers so Andy could vent onto the stake. (The Mallet intriguingly had a label that said it was useful for 'removing ordinary nails'--we couldn't figure out how that would be possible).Then it was time to set up Transect 2. "Follow me!" Siti says...and she promptly heads off, literally into the horizon.
The rest of us trudge on behind her, past vistas of amazing marine life on Cyrene: star-studded sand flats, pools thick with seagrasses. "Are we THERE yet?" we complain loudly...alas, it was a loooong walk before we did get there.Due to the shortage of hands, I actually did monitoring for the first time! Well, actually, Annabelle did the Real Monitoring and I just moved the quadrant from point to point and took pictures. Cyrene is quite challenging to monitor because it has so many different seagrasses, which unfortunately, look similar.
To identify the species, it requires close examination and much squinting at leaf veins and such. As this dilligent team at Transect 1 was still doing long after the rest of us were done.
Soon, we were done monitoring and spent the rest of the tide checking out the reef. Besides the enormous expanse of seagrasses, there are also vast stretches of coral rubble and reef flats. All right next to major shipping lanes. See the giagantic ship in the background that transports cars!
The seagrasses are full of life! We spotted a baby Knobbly sea star. Like a cartoon version of the bigger adult star, it was so cute and small! At Transect 2, the seagrasses were crawling with white sea urchins, some gathered together in big piles. It was hard to walk without stepping on them. These urchins also 'carry' things such as shells, bits of debris.
There were several carpet anemones and most had a pair of anemone shrimps. On the sandy area, I startled a little soldier crab that waved its elongated pincers at me as it back pedaled into the wet sand and promptly disappeared from view.
In a pool among the seagrasses, there was this frisky colourful fish that swam happily about, ignoring me. I've no idea what it is.
And the team at Transect 1 spotted this Cowfish in their study area! Mr Budak shares more about this amazing fish, including its scientific name: Lactoria cornuta.
Cyrene reef is just amazing! More on the Budak blog with photos and stories about the sea hares and sea stars found there.
All too soon, we had to leave as the tide rushed back in. We had a little bit of an adventure clambering back up the boat as it moved up and down in the surge. Then the boat got stuck and manly team members had to push it off the reef. Fortunately, we all got back more or less in one piece.
What a great trip! And it would not have been possible without team members Andy, Annabelle, Chay Hoon, Dionne, Kevin, Marcus and Vyna. Thank you!
Dr Chua Ee Kiam also joined us for this trip. The observant regular reader will notice we are missing the usual happy team group photo. Well, Dr Chua took the group photo and this will be posted as soon as we get it from him. There's no escaping the group photo!
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