Oil rig at Pulau Semakau to remain until Sep 08

Looks like the gigantic oil rig off Pulau Semakau will be there until Sep. It's been there since July.
[Update: a new Port Marine Notice No. 175 of 2008 dated 16 Sep extends the work period to 15 Oct 08]
What special marine habitats are near this location?

• The Pulau Semakau's intertidal walk trail and the location of TeamSeagrass monitoring sites (in the photo above, TeamSeagrass volunteers are on this walk trail).
  
• Singapore's first coral nursery, which is located near Raffles Reserved Anchorage where the oil rig is parked.

In addition to the oil rig, there's also a fish farm near the coral nursery.

from PORT MARINE NOTICE NO. 150 of 2008 dated 22 Aug 2008

OIL RIG “ESSAR WILDCAT” AT THE RAFFLES RESERVED ANCHORAGE

This is a revision of the Port Marine Notice No. 129 of 2008. The work period has been extended.

With effect from 22 Aug 08 to 15 Sep 08 at West Jurong Anchorage.Off-loading and loading of drilling equipment and maintenance works will be carried out onboard the rig. The work barges will be used for the transportation of the equipment to the shore facility. Safety boats will be in attendance during the entire stay of the rig at the anchorage.

Further general enquiries relating to the project can be directed to Mr Jimmy Nicol, the project manager, at Tel No: 91188208.

The area in yellow is the intertidal shore of Pulau Semakau.

In May 08, a new fish farm was set up at this location (insert in red box).
Here's a photo taken in Aug 08 of both the fish farm and the oil rig off Pulau Semakau.
In an earlier post on the wildfilms blog, a question was posed by Chin about this fish farm: "Is there any harms to the ecosystem in pulau semakau after the fish farm is being set up?will it eventually damage the coral reefs?"

To which budak kindly responded with these details:

I think you have to consider firstly the impact of the physical installation of the farm infrastructure (along with possible discharges from human or farm-related activities into the sea). Has the location of the farm been ascertained to have minimal impact on the nearby habitats? There is also the issue of pollution from the waste and uneaten feed dispersed into the surrounding sea by a high and dense population of captive fish.

Barramundi i believe is a species that occurs locally, but would the stock at the farm be from local sources or genetically-distant cousins from other regions? The risk and impact of fish escaping and also of pathogens crossing between the farmed fish and wild animals also needs to be considered. Add to that the oft overlooked issue that carnivorous species like barramundi don't help much in the overfishing crisis as wild 'trash' fish or other protein sources still have to be caught to provide feed.

Some links on marine aquaculture:

• Aquaculture on the FishWise website
• Nearly half of all fish eaten today farmed, not caught on the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) website.

More links

Latest articles on aquaculture on the wildsingapore news site.