Quiet at Chek Jawa North

For the first time in years, the rain fell somewhere else on our annual survey of Chek Jawa's vast northern sand bar! 

The sand bar is still alive! Seagrasses are still doing well on the seaward side facing Johor, we saw dugong feeding trails and carpet anemones are still there. But the shores seem a little quieter than previous years. Perhaps the pollution events at the Johor River last month had something to do with this? But our May 2025 survey of the Southern sand bar, we also noticed it was more subdued - so perhaps it's something else? Thanks to NParks for permission to survey.

Firm farm equipment off St John's Island taken over by Singapore Aquaculture Technologies (SAT)

Singapore Aquaculture Technologies (SAT) will take over Barramundi Group’s equipment off St John's Island. 10ha of deep-sea cages, the two barges, floating solar panels and a battery storage barge. They will also run a seabass hatchery and nursery at the Singapore Food Agency’s Marine Aquaculture Centre on St John's Island. 

Barramundi Group’s open-sea cages off Pulau Senang and Pulau Semakau will not be taken over by SAT. SAT now operates indoor floating farms in the Johor Strait.

Plans to redevelop Sentosa and Pulau Brani into a tourist destination

A people-mover system is planned between Pulau Brani and Singapore via the Keppel Link bridge. As part of plans to redevelop Sentosa and Pulau Brani into a tourist destination after the Brani Terminal relocates by 2027.

From the Sentosa website 

You can send your feedback to sustainability@sentosa.com.sg

Book on "Coral Reefs of Singapore's Urbanised Sea"

A new book on Singapore's coral reefs shares how reefs respond to decades of chronic urbanization impacts and episodic marine heatwave events.  It demonstrates the significance of protecting coral reef habitats in tropical coastal cities in line with COP and UN SDG14. And lays the contexts of long-term persistence of marginal reefs.

By Associate Professor Huang and Emeritus Professor Chou Loke Ming from the NUS Department of Biological Sciences. $311 on Amazon Sg. Not yet available in our National Library. 

Review on the Springer website and Straits Times article

Collision between Batam ferry and chemical tanker (10 Nov 2025)

The Straits Times reported a collision between a Batam ferry and a chemical tanker 'in Singapore waters'. No details on exactly where in Singapore waters. But examining the past tracks from Marine Traffic, of the routes taken by the chemical tanker LA Digue and ferry Horizon 9.

Overlapping their tracks, the likely collision area likely to be quite close to our southern islands.

Update via MPA media release 11 Nov: The collision occurred off the Southern Islands on 10 November at about 5pm.

An MPA patrol craft was immediately deployed to escort and guide the ferry back to HarbourFront Centre. The ferry sustained some damage to its bow above the waterline but remained fully operational while en route back to Harbourfront Centre. The tanker, La Digue, did not report any damage. There were no reports of injury to passengers and crew, or pollution arising from the incident. 

Changi Creek shores still starry!

There are living rocky shores and seagrass meadows at the mouth of Changi Creek, where bumboats ply to and from Pulau Ubin. We seldom survey Changi and our last survey here was in Jan 2020!

It was a relief to see many sea stars on the shore, as well as other interesting marine life. Although it was disconcerting to come across bleaching seagrass and sponges with dead tips.