Recent mass fish deaths: cause and implications

What caused the recent mass fish deaths? What does it mean for coastal fish farming and the shores nearby?

Dead farmed grouper washed up at Changi.
Photo by Toh Chay Hoon on facebook.

NO. The cause is NOT the recent oil spills. Because ... Geography!

Your help needed! Take photos of disposal tank at Changi for dead fishes

True or false? AVA says a skid tank will be placed at Changi Point Ferry Terminal where farmers can dispose of dead fish in response to recent mass fish deaths, according to Today Online.

Where is the skid tank?

If you are at Changi Point or going to Pulau Ubin, please stop by the area next to the Ferry Terminal near the bridge over Changi Creek and take photos for me? Thank you!

Volunteers survey impact of 10 Feb oil spill

This morning, NParks and volunteers headed out to survey the impact of the 10 Feb 80-tonne oil spill near Sisters Island.

NParks and volunteers surveying for oil spill impact.
Photo by Debby Ng on twitter

Thanks to live tweets by Ivan Kwan ‏@VaranusSalvator and Debby Ng ‏@torvaanser we had a live update of the survey. They saw a sea turtle! Although some oil sheen was encountered, most of the waters seem alright. Nevertheless, Ivan reports "Oil from the spill may have drifted further south with the currents, but could return to local waters as part of daily current shifts" and "there may be more checks depending on what MPA reports."

26-27 Feb Symposium: How will Singapore's shores cope with climate change?

Learn more at this FREE symposium on the impacts of sea level rise, extreme weather events and spread of invasive species on Singapore's shores. Also about our natural ecosystems: seagrasses, coral reefs, mangroves and awesome marine life like giant clams!

A rich reef growing naturally at Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal, Jun 2013

I've been kindly invited to speak about natural regeneration on artificial shores and my wacky idea of imagining a Singapore ‘Great Barrier Reef’! The symposium will be a great opportunity meet with scientists, engineers, people from government and corporations who care about the future of our shores. Register online ASAP.

10 Feb 2014: Another oil spill near Sisters Islands

At about 4pm this afternoon, MPA reported that a containership and chemical tanker collided off Sebarok Island. The containership's bunker tanks sustained damage, resulting in spillage of some 80 metric tonnes of bunker fuel.

This comes just a little more than a week after two oil spills totalling 680 metric tonnes of fuel oil around the same vicinity.

What will AVA do about fish farms dumping dead fishes in the sea?

Many dead farmed fishes washed up at Pasir Ris this morning, I learnt thanks to Mohd Khair on facebook. This follows last night's report that "fish farms along East Johor Straits report fish mortality" due to low oxygen levels in the water.

Photo by Mohd Khair on facebook
with his kind permission to reproduce in this blog.

Why doesn't the Agri-food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) provide daily door-to-door trash collection to deal with such mass deaths and daily industrial trash generated by its licenced fish farms?