Kusu still alive!

This rich reefs of Kusu Island lies just opposite the Central Business District, less than half an hour away by fast boat. The team arrives just before sunrise to check on the mass coral bleaching that we saw here in Aug 2024 and  Jun 2024.

We find the corals seem to be recovering and also encounter two Giant clams, cone snails and other interesting marine life!

Today, we spot two small Fluted giant clams (about 18cm long). One was at the northern reef, the other nearer the jetty. They were quite well camouflaged among the living corals!

The team explored the reefs near the jetty. It seems to have grown quite rich, with many large and healthy corals including mushroom corals! The team spot two cone snails, colourful fish and other marine life here.

The reef edge outside the Northern lagoon is densely covered in hard corals. Today, the very low tide exposed a large extent. Many corals seem alright, including large colonies and some less commonly seen corals. There very few bleaching colonies, but also many patches where all corals were dead. In Jun 2024, most corals were alright, with about 20% outright bleaching, and an additional 5% showing stress - pale or pinkish. In Aug 2024, the tide wasn't as low so I couldn't see much of the reef edge. Of those I saw, about 10% were bleaching, and about 60% of hard corals were dead or had large dead portions. Here is a slideshow of the reef edge today - starting from just before sunrise surveying from east to west with the city skyline on the horizon.

Today, I didn't see any bleaching Leathery soft corals. There were still a few large ones on the reef edge. But similar to our survey in Aug 2024, I sense fewer and smaller colonies, especially near the seawall. In Jun 2024, there were many large Leathery soft corals colonies and about 40% were bleaching or showing signs of severe stress - very pale or yellowish.

Corals have settled inside the Northern lagoon. Similar to what I saw in Aug 2024, there remains far fewer live corals, and the area near the seawall opening was much sandier and bare. Large colonies of Anemone corals were stone cold dead, with only narrow edges of living polyps, some still bleaching. But there were many small colonies of common coral growing. The most abundant of the larger living corals were Meteor corals, and also Blue corals. 

Similar to what I saw in Aug 2024, the large patch of Branching montipora corals is mostly dead, but on the outer edge of the patch, about 10% of these corals were alive and not bleaching. Hopefully, these will recover soon. 

Today, for the first time in a long while, I had a look at the southern reef edge, facing Lazarus Island and east of the temple. I was pleasantly surprised to see a rich reef edge. With large colonies of Anemone coral, Trumpet coral and small fields of Branching montipora coral! As well as a few mushroom corals. Most seemed healthy, I didn't see that were bleaching. Here is a slideshow of the reef edge today 

There has never been a lot of seagrass on Kusu Island. The northern lagoon is mostly sandy with very sparse sprinkles of Needle seagrass (narrow leaves) and Spoon seagrass (tiny leaves). In the lagoon, there were Cake sand dollars, some Moon snails but I didn't see any Common sea stars. The circle of Tape seagrass near the jetty has now cropped leaves (about 30cm).

What is the future of Kusu Island?

The rich reefs of Kusu Island of today are slivers of massive reef flats that were reclaimed less than one human lifetime, 50 years ago. Today, all these vast reef flats have been reclaimed, leaving very narrow margins outside the seawall that can only be accessed by non-divers at the very lowest tides. Check out the Historical maps of Singapore by NUS Libraries site where you can actually overlay the various maps over time and use a slider to see the changes.

Kusu Island was in fact originally a tiny outcrop where the temple now is. And during the annual Kusu Island pilgrimage, devotees would land by sampan. As captured by this iconic photo by Ivan Polunin, from "Once upon an island: A rare peek into our past" Scenes of old Singapore through the lens of the late naturalist Ivan Polunin. Wallace Woon, Straits Times 20 Sep 2023.

In May 2024, it was announced that the reefs outside the northern lagoon of Kusu Island would be part of Singapore's second national Marine Park at Lazarus South-Kusu Reef. It is good to cherish and protect what we have left. More on Singapore's second marine park: past, present and future.

In fact, the Singapore Blue Plan 2018 recommended the cluster of Kusu, Lazarus and St. John's Islands for elevated protection status.

The Blue Plan highlights that Lazarus, St. John’s, and Kusu Islands are established sites for coral nurseries as their shoreline offers ideal sheltered areas for growth of corals. Designating these islands as No-fishing Areas can bolster their rehabilitation. Protecting a larger cluster of islands means zonation plans for use can be implemented to manage tourism and human impacts.

DOWNLOAD the Plan, SUPPORT the Plan! More on the Singapore Blue Plan 2018 site.

Photos by others on this survey

Tommy Tan



Richard Kuah


Marcus Ng


Che Cheng Neo Part 1
Part2


Adriane Lee


Fiora Li

Others on this survey: Lon

The team held our annual Famil Day at Kusu Island on 1 Jun!

Photos by Kelvin Yong. He shared these notes on their trip - "Small nodes of hard Coral are growing back on the dead coral skeletons, all over the island. Soft coral and magnificent anemone have also been seen taking over areas of dead coral. A group of 9-12 upside down jellyfish were seen inside the lagoon. These are large almost 15 cm. One red egg crab was seen feeding on one of the upside down jellyfish. Some tracks were seen within the lagoon, suspected to be a monkey but unconfirmed."