Just minutes from the Central Business District, lies one of Singapore's last natural cliffs at St John's Island. The rocky shore and reef edge has corals. There are also seagrasses throughout, as well as rare mangrove trees on the untouched western shore, which is part of the Sisters Islands Marine Park.
Today, the corals seemed fine, seagrasses still doing well. The rest of the team find cone snail and other interesting marine life. I will update with their sightings later on.
I have never seen a lot of corals on this shore since I started surveying it. Most are boulder shaped, with common plate corals, mostly small to medium sized, but also a few very large colonies. Today, I saw the usual assortment and all seemed fine. This is a relief as during our last survey in
Apr 2025, almost all the boulder Pore corals large and small were very pale. They were bone white and NOT glowing white as bleaching corals would do. Today, I didn't see any corals in this situation.
As in the past, I saw a variety of small to medium-sized colonies of
leathery soft corals. Those I saw today seemed alright. I also saw two colonies of
Leathery sea fan both were fine. As in the past, I didn't see any
Flowery soft corals. We noticed an explosion of the
Magnificent anemone population during our last survey in
Apr 2025, and they are there, still small for now - but when they grow bigger, might overwhelm the shore as these do on our other reefs. I saw many
Giant carpet anemone throughout the rocky shores. There were also a variety of sponges including small
Barrel sponges. All seemed fine.
The real treasures are the grandmother
Nyireh laut tree and her daughters that grow on the western shore of St John's Island, which overlooks the Sisters and is part of the Sisters' Islands Marine Park. Nyireh laut is Critically Endangered in Singapore and we probably have only about 7 trees on our shores. There are another 3 on Sentosa Tg Rimau. We checked on them in
Jun 2024 just after the Pasir Panjang oil spill, they were okay: no smell or stains of oil on their trunks, leaves still fresh and green. Today, they are still fine, although the large wooden pallet is still lodged near one of the daughter trees.
St John's Island has one of the few remaining natural coastal forest, growing on natural cliffs leading onto a natural rocky shore with corals and other marine life. It is also natural for landslides to occur. Although these take out trees that grow there, these also produce the wonderful boulders and pebbly shores that we find so pleasing.
Seagrasses here seem fine! Outside the seawall of the swimming lagoons, I saw clumps of
Tape seagrass with long leaves (30-50cm), one with developing female flowers. St John's Island is one of the few shores left that still has long Tape seagrass. Inside the swimming lagoons, and on sandy patches in the natural rocky shore, there are large patches of
Spoon seagrass with small leaves, I missed seing
Needle seagrass today. There were also sprinkles of Spoon seagrass throughout the rest of the shores. On the Western shore facing Sisters Islands, there are still sprinkles of
Sickle seagrass among the rocky areas. All seagrasses looked fresh and green and healthy.
The annual
Sargassum seaweed bloom is just starting up. Today on St John's Island, the seaweed getting fluffy at the reef edge near the jetty. It is not yet in 'full bloom' at which point they form thick carpets with long strands which can wrap around legs and make surveying the reef edge impossible to do safely. But I didn't see much growth on the natural rocky shore, even around the corner to the shore facing the Sisters Islands. I'm tracking the bloom season as we feel that in recent years, it is starting earlier and ending later.
The
St John's Island jetty is closed, ostensibly until Mar 2026. Fortunately, we are able to make amphibious landing thanks to Alex who waits patiently for us just off the jetty.
St John's Island in the Singapore Blue PlanThe Singapore Blue Plan 2018 highlights the importance of St John's Island to our marine biodiversity. The cluster of Kusu, Lazarus and St. John's Islands has been recommended by the Singapore Blue Plan 2018 for elevated protection status.
 |
| The Sisters Islands on the horizon. |
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 those on the survey
Richard KuahLon Voon OngJianlin LiuAdriane LeeOthers on this survey: Loh Kok Sheng, Kelvin Yong, Tammy Lim, Che Cheng Neo.
