It seems to rain every time we survey Chek Jawa! This year, it was just a drizzle as we surveyed the vast northern sand bar.
Seagrasses are still doing well, carpet anemones are back on the seaward side. Kelvin spotted some dugong feeding trails, and we saw favourites like Button snails and Common sea stars. Thanks to NParks for permission to survey.
The northern sand bar remains vast! But very much alive. Today, an unusual sight of many many
Tiger moon snails mating above the sand - perhaps it was the cool weather? I also saw many small
Plain sand stars and some
Ball moon snails in the sand. I saw some patches of living
Button snails, buried just beneath the sand surface. These are usually only common on sandy areas - which are rare in Singapore.
It was a relief to finally see some
Haddon's carpet anemones on the seaward facing part of the northern sand bar. They used to be common here and we had not seen them since
Dec 2021, Despite the wet weather, I saw some small and large ones. There were also the usual cnidarians like
Cerianthids and some
Swimming anemones.
As usual for a northern shore, Chek Jawa is rich with echinoderms. I was relieved to see many healthy
Common sea stars - these died out in the
2007 mass death and didn't reappear until 10 years later. Che Cheng also showed us what looks like a young
Cake sea star. There were many
Garlic bread sea cucumbers large and small - Kelvin found one that was very dark purple. Also the usual
Pink warty and
Thorny sea cucumbers - we normally see a much lower abundance of these compared to Changi.
Today, there were many large Hairy sea hares, some seemed to be mating, with their egg strings among the seagrasses. Other interesting encounters include a pregnant papa
Seagrass pipefish,
horseshoe crabs large and tiny, and many
Noble volutes, some laying egg capsules. Kelvin spotted a few large dead
Horse mussels, but we didn't see any patches of large ones. The rest of the team saw lots of other interesting marine life. I'll update with these later.
On the northern sand bar, there were good growths of seagrasses on the seaward side facing Johor. Mostly
Spoon seagrass (small and large leaves) and
Needle seagrass with narrow leaves.
As on our last survey in
Dec 2023, there were lots of
Smooth ribbon seagrass in the the inner lagoon, almost reaching the northen sand bar. It continues to flourish and have taken over the southern sand bar and large parts of the southern area. I also saw some
Fern seagrass. Much of the seagrasses in the inner lagoon seem to be heavily covered in epiphytes. I only saw a short furrow on the seaward side that might be a dugong feeding trail.
Kelvin saw a much clearer patch
dugong trails. Dugong feeding trails are formed when dugongs chomp up seagrasses including their roots, leaving a shallow meandering furrow of about equal width and depth. We saw a few during our
Dec 2023 survey and many more during our survey in
Feb 2023.
What is the fate of Chek Jawa?Chek Jawa and Pulau Sekudu is slated for reclamation in the
Long-Term Plan Review. The plan includes a road link (black line) from the mainland jumping off at Punggol, crossing to Pulau Ubin through Chek Jawa to jump off to Pulau Tekong before circling back to the mainland on Changi East. Proposed reclamation (in yellow) will bury Pasir Ris shores, Pulau Sekudu and Chek Jawa as well as a large stretches of Changi Beach.
The Singapore Blue Plan 2018Among the Proposed Areas for Immediate Conservation Priority, the Singapore Blue Plan 2018 proposes that the intertidal and subtidal marine areas of Pulau Ubin to be designated Marine Reserve.
The proposed area would include Tanjung Chek Jawa, the largest known intertidal area in northern Singapore. Considered one of the richest in Singapore, Chek Jawa comprises many adjacent ecosystems: coastal hill forest, mangrove areas, rocky shores, seagrass meadows, coral communities, and sandy areas. Chek Jawa remains an icon of celebration and hope for many Singaporeans since its reprieve from reclamation in 2001.
DOWNLOAD the Plan, SUPPORT the Plan! More on the
Singapore Blue Plan 2018 site.
Photos by others on this surveyKelvin YongRichard KuahOthers on this survey: Chay Hoon, Loh Kok Sheng, Marcus Ng, Che Cheng Neo, Tammy Lim, Lon, Adriane Lee, Ian Mun, Nasry, Fiora, Mathias, Isaac.
