We saw three Fluted giant clams today at Pulau Jong! Pulau Jong is among the last untouched islands in Singapore. It has not been reclaimed or directly impacted by development. Pulau Jong is what all our Southern islands looked like before they were reclaimed.
We also enjoyed a glorious sunrise! I was busy working with Jeanette and her film crew, so I didn't take much photos. Thanks to the rest of the team for finding the clams and other cool critters.
Dubbed the 'char siew pau' island because of its cute dumpling shape, Pulau Jong has a huge reef flat that is exposed at low spring tide. This reef flat together with the domed island is said to resemble the silhouette of a Chinese sailing junk, thus 'Jong'. Here's a brief video I took of the sunrise and some of the nudibranchs and flatworms the rest of the team found. We also saw several Black-tailed sea hares, while Kok Sheng spotted a Cushion star!
I didn't take photos but we paid respects to the remains of Mama Jong whom we found dead
a year ago, her shells were still there today. Jing ying found the other Fluted giant clam first seen in
2015. It was quite large, nearly the same size as dead Mama Jong. While Juria found a smaller one that looks like a papa, and Kok Sheng found another bigger one that had similar markings to Mama Jong. Perhaps they are offsprings of dead Mama Jong? Sorry I only took a photo of the clam that Juria found.
The clam that Jing Ying found.
The clam that Kok Sheng found.
There have not been many corals on this mainly rocky shore since we started surveying it. Today, most of the corals I saw were alright although some were pale or had pale patches. I saw several
Acropora corals and several
Cauliflower corals, they were alright.
Boulder pore corals remain large and abundant here, and most were alright although one had a pale patch. I saw one large Barrel sponge that was alright.
There were still many large leathery soft corals and they seemed alright. Although it lies next to major shipping lanes, petrochemical plants, tank stores and Semakau Landfill, tiny Pulau Jong is very much alive!
The anemones and other soft corals I saw were alright. I saw the
Magnificent anemone that has been here for a while, and some
Frilly anemones, as well as some
Asparagus flowery soft corals. Kok Sheng saw the
Merten's carpet anemone and it was alright.
Sadly, we saw a huge functional fish trap tied up to a tree on the high shore with a rope (yellow arrow points to the rope). Below it is a broken fish trap partially buried in the sand. In the past, we had seen several traps 'stored' on Pulau Jong in this manner.
Let's hope the last of our unspoilt islands, Pulau Jong will stay safe until we return next year.
Future of Pulau Jong?
Pulau Jong is one of
the existing natural shores that may be impactedby the
landuse plan by the Ministry of National Developmentreleased in Jan 2013 in response to the Populations White Paper with a 6.9 million population target. The dotted margined blue areas are "Possible Future Reclamation". The other shores impacted by this plan include Pulau Hantu, Terumbu Pempang Darat, Terumbu Pempang Tengah and Terumbu Semakau.
The Singapore Blue Plan 2018
As part of the cluster around Pulau Semakau, Pulau Jong has been recommended by the Singapore Blue Plan 2018 for Immediate Conservation Priority.
The Blue Plan highlights that Pulau Semakau and its associated patch reefs comprise many ecosystems: coral reefs, mangrove areas, intertidal sandflats, seagrass meadows, and coral reefs. The subtidal area of Pulau Jong is larger than the terrestrial area. Pulau Hantu is a popular dive site has seen increasing interest in the past decade due to biodiversity awareness. If protection is accorded to these three islands, zonation plans for use can be implemented to manage tourism and human impacts.
More about our
Crazy Rich Shores at Pulau Jong.
DOWNLOAD the Plan, SUPPORT the Plan! More on the
Singapore Blue Plan 2018 site.
Photos by others on this trip
Yeo Jing Ying
Kok Sheng
Others on this trip: Juria.
