Reefs on Ferry Terminal seawall doing well

Today, a small team returns to survey the amazing coral reef that has settled naturally on the seawalls of Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal. Lush seagrasses also settled naturally in the artificial lagoon next to the Ferry terminal.

This shore was impacted by mass coral bleaching and the 400tonne Pasir Panjang oil spill in 2024. Today, the corals seem to be getting back to normal, while seagrasses are doing well. As usual, the rest of the team make all the special finds. I will update later with their observations.

Corals are more obvious when they are bleaching. This is what we saw during mass coral bleaching in Jul 2024, when we estimated about 30% of corals were bleaching outright. 

When we surveyed in May 2025, this is what we saw. No more bleaching, although I sensed that there were fewer corals. Many of the coral colonies on the high shore were dead. Seems today, the reef here is coming back to the way it was before the impacts in 2024.

Today on the Ferry Terminal seawall, we saw many healthy, large colonies without any dings or dead parts. Our corals are pretty tough, considering they were affected by the mass coral bleaching AND the Pasir Panjang oil spill in 2024.

Today, as in the past, most of the corals at the Ferry Terminal seawall were boulder shaped of the commonly encountered kind. But there were also some special corals and even a few small colonies of Leathery soft corals and a Leathery sea fan.

Many corals have also settled on the seawall that forms the lagoon next to the Ferry Terminal. Both on the outside seaward side, and also those inside the lagoon. I only had a brief look as those inside the lagoon. Most are boulder shaped species, but there were also many plate-forming species. Similar to our survey in May 2025, many boulder Pore corals were pale brown, and many patches of Zebra coral were very pale. Other kinds of corals were alright.

Today, the seagrass situation in the lagoon is somewhat similar to our last survey in May 2025 and Jul 2024. The big patch of Smooth ribbon seagrass is still huge. One smaller patch is starting to grow as well. Leaves are mostly fresh and green, with many tiny snails and other marine life among them.

The Tape seagrass I saw varied from very short cropped leaves to long ones (30-50cm). I saw three with female flowers. There were still many clumps well distributed throughout the shore.

There seems to be many more patches of Sickle seagrass than in the past, almost the entire length of the shore closer to the seawall. I saw some with cropped leaves, others with very long fresh green leaves. I saw a small patch of Needle seagrass with broad leaves. I saw very few small patches of Spoon seagrass, which in the past was the most abundant species, growing almost throughout the shore.

On the high shore, a narrow line of litter is accumulating - quite 'good' for a shore that is not cleaned daily. This is similar to what we saw in Jul 2024. I am glad to see that there are no longer many single-use water cups, which commonly wash up on beaches along the ferry routes. These cups are not commonly used by beach goers or the local boating or fishing community. But these single-use water cups are apparently given out to passengers on ferries. Perhaps MPA has plugged the gap in ferry trash? I have long been asking MPA to provide facilities at piers/terminals under their charge for vessels to responsibly dispose of trash generated during their operation. More in this post.

There were also large trash impacting corals growing on the seawall. A large piece of plywood was killing a coral colony. We tried to remove it but half of it was buried in the sand and we probably need shovels to get it out.

Where did all these corals come from?

The babies of these corals are from Singapore reefs! This chart shared in the Long-Term Plan Review shows coral larvae (babies) dispersal in our waters from mass coral spawning. This highlights the importance of protecting our 'mother reefs' so that they can continue to produce babies that settle all along our shoreline.

What is the fate of this shore?

Massive reclamation is planned near the area we surveyed today as outlined recently in the Long-Term Plan Review.

We restarted surveying this shore again in Jun 2022 after a break of nearly ten years. This shore is now strictly off limits without a permit. We surveyed with permission from agencies kindly arranged by NParks and with support from the Ferry Terminal.