This submerged reef is close to Jurong Island and Pulau Bukom. And yet, has the largest coverage of
leathery soft corals that I have seen on all our shores.
A small team survey and relieved to see most the leatheries seem to have survived mass coral bleaching, and that the seagrass situation seems to have improved.
As usual, the rest of the team make all the special finds. Thanks to Kelvin, we had
great drone views of the shore. Liz found a medium sized Burrowing Giant clam! Kelvin found an empty egg-case laid by a shark - hope the baby shark is well. The rest of the team find 'Nemo's as well as an array of colourful nudibranchs.
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Collage of photos by the rest of the team.
Links to their albums at the end of the post. |
There has always been many
leathery soft corals of various kinds on this shore. At our survey in
Jun 2024 during mass coral bleaching, about 50% were showing signs of stress (pale patches, more yellow than usual), with about 10% outright bleaching. Today, there were still many large colonies of various kinds covering a large area on the south-west corner of the Terumbu. I didn't see any that were bleaching. Kelvin shared a great
drone perspective of the leathery soft coral coverage.
There are not a lot of hard corals on this shore, even on the reef edge. Most of the corals are boulder shaped. At our survey in
Jun 2024 during mass coral bleaching, about 20% were showing signs of stress (pale, pink or with pale patches) with about 15% outright bleaching. Today, I didn't see any bleaching corals, only a few with white portions. I didn't see a wide variety of corals, mostly Pore corals and boulder shapes Merulinid corals. A lot of Anemone corals.
Almost every team member saw octopuses! A good sign that shows the shores are healthy enough to support top predators. They also came across some corals that I didn't see.
At our survey in
Jun 2024 I saw 3 patches of dense
Branching montipora corals, all mostly dead. Today, I couldn't find the patch, only a few live individuals. But
Tammy came across a large patch of dead Branching montipora corals.
Other cnidarians can also bleach, so I looked out for those too. At our survey in
Jun 2024 during mass coral bleaching, most of the
Asparagus flowery soft coral I saw were pale and a few were bleaching. Today, all those I saw were okay. Other cnidarians I saw were also fine: large colonies of Sea mat zoanthids and sprinkles of other kinds
zoanthids, and
corallimorphs. I saw many
Giant carpet anemones and they were okay. Mathias saw some
Magnificent anemones which were okay and even had 'Nemo'.
The sandy area in the middle of the Terumbu had good coverage of
Spoon seagrass with small leaves, but heavily covered in epiphytes. Towards the reef edge in sandy areas among the rocks and rubble, there were Spoon seagrass with large leaves, sprinkles of
Sickle seagrass. And, most encouragingly, many clumps of
Tape seagrass with longish leaves (about 30cm). This situation seems similar to what I saw in
May 2022. It had worsened a little on our surveys in 2023 and 2024.
Tommy came across a large fish trap with some fishes: Stingrays, butterflyfishes and wrassse.
We land at first light of the sun, under the waning light of a full moon. There are so many low spring tides this year, we could space out this one to avoid too many back-to-back surveys later on.
What is the fate of Terumbu Pempang Tengah?Terumbu Pempang Tengah lies close to the
planned 31ha reclamation at Eastern tip of Pulau Sudong. Other shores near the impact zone include Terumbu Bemban and Terumbu Raya.
Pulau Hantu and all the terumbus west of it are slated for massive reclamation outlined recently in the
Long-Term Plan Review. Singapore's submerged reefs are often out of sight under the high tide and thus forgotten. Let's hope these terumbu stay safe until we can visit again.
The Singapore Blue Plan 2018Pulau Semakau and nearby islands and submerged reefs have been recommended by the Singapore Blue Plan 2018 for Immediate Conservation Priority. The Blue Plan recommends the intertidal and subtidal marine areas of Pulau Semakau and adjacent Pulau Hantu, and Pulau Jong to be designated Marine Reserve.
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.
DOWNLOAD the Plan, SUPPORT the Plan! More on the
Singapore Blue Plan 2018 site.
Photos by others on this survey
Kelvin Yong
drone flightKelvin Yong
surveyLiz LimChe Cheng NeoLonTammy LimTommy TanOthers on the survey: Mathias Luk
