Pulau Jong is among the last untouched islands in Singapore. It has not been reclaimed or directly impacted by development. Pulau Jong is what all our Southern islands looked like before they were reclaimed.
Dubbed the 'char siew pau' island because of its cute dumpling shape, Pulau Jong has a huge reef flat that is exposed at low spring tide. This reef flat together with the domed island is said to resemble the silhouette of a Chinese sailing junk, thus 'Jong'. Our last survey was in
Jun 2016 at the height of mass coral bleaching. It was relief today, to see no mass bleaching. Although there appears to be fewer hard corals on the intertidal now.
Our last survey was in
Jun 2016 when about 30-40% of the hard corals and soft corals that I saw were bleaching. As we were arriving I saw many corals in deeper waters bleaching. I also sense that there are much fewer leathery soft corals on the shore than before.
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| Mass coral bleaching at Pulau Jong in Jun 2016. |
Today, I saw many large and healthy
leathery soft corals of various kinds.
Although it lies next to major shipping lanes, petrochemical plants, tank stores and Semakau Landfill, this tiny island is very much alive!
Today, I saw a few
Acropora coral, one
Branching montipora coral that were alright. Also one
Pebble coral (it was pale and oddly coloured). I saw several
Cauliflower corals that were alright. I did not see any
Sandpaper coral.
I saw some large
Disk corals corals that were alright, although one was very pale green with dead portions. I only saw one small
Flowery disk coral and it was bleaching.
I saw a few
Merulinid corals, most seemed alright but some had pale patches or dead portions.
I saw a few
Small goniopora coral and a few
Anemone coral colonies, they were not bleaching.
Most of the large corals were
Boulder pore corals, they were not bleaching, although some were pale on top or had dead portions. I'm not sure if green is a normal colour for this coral.
I saw a few
Asparagus flowery soft corals and they were alright. One was full of tiny orange brittle stars. I also saw some
Spiky flowery soft corals and one
Leathery sea fan.
I saw many
Frilly anemones, they were not bleaching. I saw one
Smooth frilly sea anemone and one
Magnificent anemone. Richard found the
Merten's carpet anemone.
The Mama
Fluted giant clam is still there and she is fine! Giant clams can also bleach as they too harbour symbiotic algae and rely on them for food. Abel found another large Fluted giant clam there too!
There were sprinkles of
Sickle seagrass, with fresh green leaf blades, not burnt or covered in epiphytes.
Pulau Jong has a cloak of coastal forest, with special rare plants such as
Delek Air and
Sea teak.
Today, I noticed a gap in the forest.
Probably caused by a landslide?
Today, I saw a large fish trap stashed on the high shore. I disabled it. On our last trip in Jun 2016, we did find a fish trap on the high shore but didn't have time to disable it as we rushed off as a thunderstorm gathered nearby.
Pulau Jong lies near the petrochemical plants on Pulau Bukom, producing a plume of emissions in the clear blue sky today.
Pulau Jong is one of
the existing natural shores that may be impacted by the
landuse plan by the Ministry of National Development released in Jan 2013 in response to the Populations White Paper with a 6.9 million population target. The dotted margined blue areas are "Possible Future Reclamation". The other shores impacted by this plan include Pulau Hantu, Terumbu Pempang Darat, Terumbu Pempang Tengah and Terumbu Semakau.
Let's hope the last of our unspoilt islands, Pulau Jong will stay safe until we return next year.
Posts by others on this trip
Others on this trip: Mr Kuet, Joelle Lai
