A small team does our annual low tide check up on the southern area of Chek Jawa with kind permission and support from NParks.
With flaring at Johor's petrochemical plants on the horizon, we find corals are doing well, sponges seem to be recovering. About 2 months ago, Changi and other shores in the East Johor Straits were impacted by an
oil leak from Langsat, Johor. Today at Chek Jawa, we didn't see obvious signs of spill effects, but there were many 'missing' animals. Nevertheless, we saw many sea stars, 2 seahorses and many other marvelous marine creatures!
It was a relief to see stars on the shore. They were missing yesterday at
Changi Carpark 7 and we didn't see Biscuit sea stars on
Pulau Sekudu earlier in the month. Today on Chek Jawa, the team saw many
Biscuit sea stars (some quite small), some medium sized
Knobbly sea stars, many young
Cake sea stars (slender enough that they have arms!). Always good to see young sea stars, suggests there is reproduction going on. They also saw rarely seen stars like the
Spiny sea star and
Red scaly sea star. Unfortunately, we couldn't find any
Common sea stars.
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Collage of photos by the team.
Links to their albums below. |
We saw 2 sea horses! And other colourful fishes. As well as pretty nudibranchs and colourful flatworms. Some like the Sponge nudibranch is large but well camouflaged to look like an encrusted rock! There were also octopuses.
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Collage of photos by the team.
Links to their albums below. |
The team clear signs of
dugong feeding trails! Kelvin in the pool of seagrasses next to the southern sand bar, Vincent on the seagrass area nearer the boardwalk extension to the pontoon, Kok Sheng on what seems to be the seaward side. I only saw one on the seagrasses growing on the sand bar itself. In
May 2024, we also saw signs nearer the boardwalk extension to the pontoon. We also saw signs on Pulau Sekudu a
few weeks ago. Hopefully, this means the dugongs are still around!
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Collage of photos by the team.
Links to their albums below. |
Today, the tide was very low and we found more than 30 small to medium-sized
Boulder pore corals near the beacon. Most were nice and brown, 2 were green, a few had small dings or dead patches. Our last survey was in
May 2024 at the height of
global mass coral bleaching in the months ahead. At that time, the about 20 Boulder pore corals that I saw were mostly okay. The situation was similar in
Jun 2023.
I also saw one medium
Boulder sandpaper coral, a
small Goniopora coral and two small colonies of
Flowery disk coral and what looks like one dead one. There were also patches of
Zebra coral - some were pale.
There seems to be more larger healthier clumps of common sponges, compared to our survey in
May 2024. But I still didn't see any
Barrel sponges and the variety of sponges remains low. Much of the coral rubble near the beacon were bare. The explosion of
Spiky flowery soft corals among the sponges that we saw in
Jun 2023 is no more. There were still sprinkles of these in
May 2024 - all bleaching. Today there were no soft corals.
There remains abundant
Haddon's carpet anemones on the sand bar, in the lagoon, everywhere. I didn't see any that were bleaching, but I saw a few very small ones, and some that were very pale or oddly neonish green. A few were 'scrunched up' in a way that reminds me of stressed carpet anemones I saw during the 2007 mass deaths at Chek Jawa - I saw these too at
Changi yesterday.
We looked and didn't see any oil patches or stains on hard surfaces as we did at
Changi yesterday. But on the large sandy patches near the boardwalk, aside from signs of Sand bubbler crabs, I was worried that I didn't see any Acorn worm poop - does it mean something is not well under the sand? I also couldn't find any
Common sea stars. These died out in the
2007 mass death and didn't reappear until 10 years later. We saw many Common sea stars at this location on our last survey in
Dec 2024.
Today I mourn the loss of Prof Teh Tiong Sa. I first met Prof Teh as Joseph Lai planned and carried out the first transect of Chek Jawa 2001. We had no idea that reclamation would eventually be deferred. And I hadn't the slightest clue about marine life or marine conservation. Prof patiently guided us on the science, gave us courage and kept our spirits up during those dark days. After reclamation was deferred, he remained by our side. Prof's keen scientific mind, his devotion to sharing with compassion and patience. Have touched and made the marine community what it is today. More in this
facebook post.
At sunrise as I looked upon this Chek Jawa scene, unchanged from those first days with Prof and Joe (minus the boardwalk). I remember how I sad I was then - I thought we would lose it forever. And yet, it remains, as we fade away. We have lost a great heart and can only hope to do our part to share with others what he has so generously given to us. RIP Prof Teh Tiong Sa.
What is the fate of Chek Jawa?
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
Kelvin YongRichard KuahChe Cheng NeoVincent ChooLoh Kok ShengMarcus NgFiora LiOthers on this survey: Adriane Lee, Fiora Li
