As nature awareness grows, Singapore can rethink its approach to developing green spaces

Highlighting the rise of youth-led nature groups: LepakInSG, Earthlink NTU and Singapore Youth Voices for Biodiversity. And the need to push for better engagement on terrestrial developments, raising PUB's community engagement on Long Island and other projects as a good example.

And how the Singapore Terrestrial Conservation Plan provides a framework so that "Singapore can truly live up to its ethos as a City in Nature, one where forested land is not just land to be developed, but a heritage to be stewarded."

Protected sharks, rays allegedly sold as seafood without permits in Singapore’s markets

Blacktip reef sharks – a protected species that cannot be sold without a permit – have turned up at some wet markets in Singapore, according to photos provided by CNA’s sources. 

NParks said it has dealt with seven cases of illegal shark and ray imports without permits between 2020 and 2025. Depending on each case, warning letters and offers of composition - fines paid to settle offences without court proceedings - were issued.

Bigger patch of wild mangroves at Marina Bay!

Once again, we follow in the footsteps of Arjun Sai Krishnan who first checked out this larger patch of mangroves at Marina East in Dec 2025. This gave me the impetus to check it out for ourselves. We were not disappointed! 

Hidden behind the trees growing at the edge of the seawall is a patch of mangroves with a wide variety of species including some very rare ones. There are even mudlobster mounds! We saw an otter and other marine life. Will update with sightings by the rest of the team later on.

Paying respects to Big Sister

It has become our tradition to survey Big Sister's Island during the Lunar New Year. Part of Singapore's first Marine Park, we did our survey with permission from NParks. After raining all day, the weather eased up just as we started out survey.

We saw sharks, giant clam and other colourful reef life. The rest of the team made all the special finds, I will update later with their sightings. The corals seem to be doing well. The Great billed heron was calmly hunting in the Big Lagoon and did not seem disturbed at all by our presence. On the horizon, the Central Business District on the mainland.

Horseshoe crab breeding and seahorse study in Singapore

Timed with the Chinese zodiac’s Year of the Horse, The Straits Times features two native animals with equine-linked names: the horseshoe crab and the seahorse.

Pulau Jong, Jul 2012

YES! Singapore got wild peaceful sharks.

YES! We have wild sharks. We often encounter them on our surveys, especially of the more remote offshores reefs. But they are shy and will flee as soon as they sense we are nearby.

Small Sisters Island Oct 2025 by Ria Tan

Our sharks are NOT dangerous to humans. It is perfectly safe to be on the shore with them if we respect their space. We have surveyed shores for decades, often in the dark among sharks, without any harm to people or sharks.

This post was done in preparation for interview with Zaobao, who's interested was piqued by Mathias' video of our most recent survey at Semakau East in Feb 2026. Their article is here.

Sharks are a sign of a healthy reef. Many sharks means there is enough fish for them to eat. So let's rejoice when we see sharks on our shores!