Under the non-stop flights landing at Changi Airport, a lovely little paradise. The untouched island of Pulau Sekudu lies just off Chek Jawa. The full survey team checks it out today for impact from the recent oil spill, and see how the corals are doing following last year's mass coral bleaching.
We are glad to see that it remains lively, and for the first time, we see clear dugong feeding trails! Pulau Sekudu is off limits since 2007 and
requires special permission from NParks. Thanks to NParks for permission and support to do these predawn low spring tide surveys of the island.
Colourful sponges, sea fans and some soft corals still dot the coral rubble. Although I sense the sponges are not as abundant and their diversity is lower. The most abundant animals remain
Haddon's carpet anemones. I didn't see any that were bleaching. I will update later with all the amazing finds that the rest of the team made. Back-to-back predawn surveys are too exhausting.
As usual, the star of the shore are the
Knobbly sea stars. I saw ten today!
Deconflicting the Knobbly sea stars seen by the rest of the team, I estimate there are at last 25 distributed throughout the island.
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Photos by Loh Kok Sheng, Kelvin Yong
and other team members. |
The rest of the team spot all the special finds as usual! Dayna encountered a Banded filed snake. Chay Hoon showed us all a small Hollow-cheek stonefish. Nudibranchs were also seen. Sadly, none of us saw any
Biscuit sea star, which have been missing from Pulau Sekudu since
Jul 2020. But we saw some Common sea stars, a Cake sea star, an Orange sand star and Crown star. There were also the usual sea cucumbers but not in explosive numbers as on Changi. What was exploding was Black sea urchins - huge numbers in clusters and scattered throughout the shore. Kelvin also noted many Diadema sea urchins among the corals in the middle of the lagoon! There were also some White sea urchins.
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Photos by the rest of the team.
Links to their albums at the end of the post. |
Today, for the first time on this shore, I saw many clear
dugong feeding trails. These trails are formed when dugongs chomp up seagrasses including their roots, leaving a shallow meandering furrow of about equal width and depth. Although we have seen feeding trails on Chek Jawa just opposite Pulau Sekudu, it's the first time I noticed them here.
As on our last survey in
Aug 2024, seagrasses remain lush, green and clean (no epiphytes)! Lots of
Spoon seagrass (both small and large leaf blades) and
Needle seagrass (narrow and broad leaf blades). There was small but lush patch of
Fern seagrass at the eastern most edge of the island. The
Serrated ribbon seagrass are still growing in sparse patches from the mid-water mark to the low tide line. On the arm of the lagoon, I saw one clump of
Tape seagrass with long leaves, and two small clumps of severely cropped leaves. None were flowering.
Today, I saw about 15 small to medium sized
Boulder pore corals, on the arm as well as the western edge of the lagoon. None of them were bleaching. On our last survey in
Aug 2024, during the period of
global mass coral bleaching, I saw the same number and some were bleaching or recently dead. Today, the patches of
Zebra coral on the high shore were okay. But I didn't come across the
Pock-marked coral colony and
Boulder sandpaper coral colony that I had in the past. The team saw a large Disk coral that was okay.
About 3 weeks ago, Changi and other shores in the East Johor Straits were impacted by an
oil leak from Langsat, Johor. So we were on the look out for possible impacts on Pulau Sekudu. I saw fresh oil stain layer on the rocks facing Chek Jawa.
There were also small patches of brownish stains on the low shore facing Chek Jawa. They were a little sticky, but had no petroleum smell. The mangrove trees seemed alright, although some low hanging leaves had a light coating of black stuff - no smell, but a little sticky.
Bravo to NParks friends who were with us for removing the hook in this beautiful
Honeycomb whipray!
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Photos by Tommy Tan and Jonathan Tan
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I also came across a small fish trap (bubu) on the reef edge facing the mainland. There were no fishes in it.
What is the fate of Pulau Sekudu?Chek Jawa and Pulau Sekudu is slated for reclamation in the
Long-Term Plan Review. The plan includes a road link (black line) from the mainland jumping off at Punggol, crossing to Pulau Ubin through Chek Jawa to jump off to Pulau Tekong before circling back to the mainland on Changi East. Proposed reclamation (in yellow) will bury Pasir Ris shores, Pulau Sekudu and Chek Jawa as well as a large stretches of Changi Beach.
The Singapore Blue Plan 2018Among the Proposed Areas for Immediate Conservation Priority, the Singapore Blue Plan 2018 proposes that the intertidal and subtidal marine areas of Pulau Ubin to be designated Marine Reserve.
The proposed area would include Tanjung Chek Jawa, the largest known intertidal area in northern Singapore. Considered one of the richest in Singapore, Chek Jawa comprises many adjacent ecosystems: coastal hill forest, mangrove areas, rocky shores, seagrass meadows, coral communities, and sandy areas. Chek Jawa remains an icon of celebration and hope for many Singaporeans since its reprieve from reclamation in 2001.
DOWNLOAD the Plan, SUPPORT the Plan! More on the
Singapore Blue Plan 2018 site.
Photos by others on the survey
Chay HoonLow Liong LeongKelvin YongAdriane LeeLoh Kok ShengChe Cheng NeoTommy TanTsu Soo TanDayna CheahJonathan TanMuhd NasryOthers on the survey: Ian
On the same day,
Mathias Luk was at Pulau Jong.
