For the last four days, I have been visiting jetties used by fish farms to check for dead fish and trash. These include Lim Chu Kang, Lorong Halus, Changi Point and Pulau Ubin.
How nice to see this person haul several bags and toss them into the large tank near the Lim Chu Kang jetty! The bags seemed light, probably full of other bags? Here's some of the other activities I saw.
At Lim Chu Kang, I saw a large floating platform laden with green bins being pushed to the jetty. Are these green bins used to transfer trash responsibly to the mainland? If so, why can't all farmers do this?
I saw this floating platform laden with stuff being pushed out with a boat from the jetty. So it seems the fish farmers do transfer bulky items to and from their farms. Why not include trash collection in such transfers?
I saw someone load up his boat with bags of what looks like assorted biscuits.
A closer look at the bag. I have heard that some fish farmers feed their fishes with expired carbohydrates such as biscuits, bread, instant noodles.
I saw diesel being delivered by tanker at Lim Chu Kang jetty, collected in smaller plastic containers by fish farmers.
The mangrove area next to the Lim Chu Kang jetty appears to be a spot used by people to rest and to store stuff like bags.
This area is full of litter. The large yellow box in the distance is a refrigerator. Although the dead fishes have been removed, the litter have not.
Over the days, I see 'new' trash here. This looks like a cushion from some sort of furniture. I also saw a large picture frame.
On 23 Oct (Thu), at Lim Chu Kang, I saw many rotting pieces of large fishes that look like the dead farmed fishes that washed up on 21 Oct.
I also saw a few freshly dead fishes (still had fins and tail and eyes). It looks like a mullet. But rather slender and not as fat as the farmed fishes. A wild mullet that died?
On 25 Oct (Sat), I saw only a few dead fishes that look like they died recently: still had their fins and tails.
I also saw several Scats. I don't think these fishes are farmed. What does it mean if large wild fishes start to die? I didn't see any dead fishes at Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve or any of the other shores that I visited over the last four days.
Lim Chu Kang jetty services the about 60 licenced coastal fish farms in Western Johor Strait.
After checking out Lim Chu Kang Jetty, I dropped by the Lorong Halus Jetty on 25 Oct (Sat). The jetty area is only accessible to authorised people and it is fenced and gated. This jetty services the about 60 licenced coastal fish farms in Eastern Johor Strait.
The bin centre's shutter was rolled down. There was one green bin outside.
This is what the Bin Centre looked like during the
Lorong Halus Jetty opening in Jul 2014.
And a large tank near the water's edge.
I saw this person toss several bags into the tank.
There didn't appear to be many boats at the jetty.
There wasn't much going on at the jetty. A truck delivering what seems like fish meal.
There was also one large tanker delivering diesel.
There were lots of cars parked outside the jetty. Probably not authorised people, I'm not sure what they are doing here. I did see several people fishing outside the jetty area.
At Changi Point Ferry Terminal on 26 Oct (Sun), there were some trucks and small boats using the 'unofficial jetty'. Before Lorong Halus jetty was opened in
Jul 2014, this was the main place Eastern fish farmers used to load and unload their stuff.
I visited Pulau Ubin on 26 Oct (Sun). Like all our recreational beaches, Ubin's shores are cleaned by tax-funded workers.
I decided to check the shore on Ubin
where I saw abandoned sofas, fire extinguisher and other trash last month, in Sep 2014. Wow, the shore was super clean. But I did see this suspicious item almost buried in the sand.
It looks like some kind of appliance. A TV?
There were also a few stuff that look like they came from fish farms.
And a fish meal bag well embedded in the sand.
A closer look at the fish meal bag.
The shore is still littered with tyres, and used containers like this one that previously contained some sort of hazardous substance.
I saw about 4 bumboats full of people docking at this floating structure among the fish farms. I'm not really sure what is going on.
Large vessels ply the Eastern Johor Straits going to and from Pasir Gudang in Johor and Sembawang Shipyards in Singapore. The fish farms are tiny compared to them.
Here's a view of an Eastern fish farm from Pasir Ris Park.
There is flaring going on at the industrial area in Johor.
I'm relieved not to see any dead fishes on these checks. Let's hope the worst is over.
Dead Fish Alert!Please help me monitor dead fishes washing up on the Johor Straits. Please let me know if you see large numbers (more than 10) especially of large dead fishes (more than 20cm long) washing up on the northern shores such as Pulau Ubin, Lim Chu Kang, Sungei Buloh, Kranji, Sembawang, Punggol, Pasir Ris, Changi.
Thank you!
