Lazarus and Seringat-Kias still impacted by Pasir Panjang oil spill?

A tiny team surveys Lazarus Island and the artificial Seringat-Kias lagoon (also called Eagle Bay by boaters). These shores were impacted by the 400tonne Pasir Panjang oil spill on 14 Jun 2024. 

Sadly, I sense we have lost nearly 90% of seagrasses in Eagle Bay, and traces of oil appear to remain in the sand. The natural rocky shores of Lazarus was quiet, with few corals. But there are still signs of life everywhere.

We start the survey on the rocky southern tip of Lazarus just opposite the temple at Kusu Island - with the annual Kusu pilgrimage going on. And along the natural rocky shore that joins the seawall forming the Seringat-Kias lagoon. As usual, there aren't many hard corals here. Most were boulder shaped. Kelvin checked out the deeper water more thoroughly and saw interesting corals. As well as several clumps of Branching montipora corals - hope they will eventually form 'fields' as we have seen them do on other shore. Compared to our last survey in  Oct 2024, I saw even fewer hard corals, many with large dead patches. Also a few small Leathery soft coral colonies. I didn't see any that were bleaching. On the rocky shore facing Kusu Island, there are still a few Asparagus flowery soft corals, not as many as before, Kelvin saw a Leathery sea fan.

On the reefier areas, Kelvin saw a large barrel sponge festooned with Red feather stars (he saw 10 of them! As well as 10-15 Diadema sea urchins. He also did a more thorough check of the rocky shores and saw Jeweled chiton, some Frilly sea anemones and commonly seen reef crabs as well as large Top shell snail and Long black sea cucumbers. Stephanie also spotted an octopus!

The seagrasses seem even less than what I saw in Oct 2024. I sense about 90% of seagrasses have disappeared compared to our last survey in Jan 2014 (in Oct 2024, I put it at 50% less). Eagle Bay shores are now mostly bare sand where there used to be dense growths of seagrasses. In deeper water, it remains bare of seagrasses, I still didn't see any seagrasses in the middle portion of the Bay.

This area used to be green with seagrasses.

In the Southern arm of the lagoon, there was only one small patch of seagrass, mostly Needle seagrass (narrow and broad leaves) and Spoon seagrass (tiny leaves) and what seems to be Noodle seagrass. All were heavily covered in epiphytes and what was fresh and green turned out to be Caulerpa seaweed. And even these had patches of bleaching. I did not see any of these species which before the oil spill formed large dense patches here: Sickle seagrass, Smooth ribbon seagrass.

Compared to the Southern arm, there was more seagrass on the Northern arm of the lagoon. There was a larger patch of dense sprinkles of Needle seagrass (narrow leaves) and Spoon seagrass (tiny leaves) all were also heavily covered in ephiphytes. I saw one clump of Tape seagrass with cropped leaves (about 30cm). What was fresh and green turned out to be Caulerpa seaweed, sprinkled with Green gum drop ascidians.

Despite the loss of seagrasses, there are still signs of life on the shore. Lots of Bazillion snails, and Stephanie pointed out lots of tiny tubeworms in the lagoon. Kelvin found a Bornella nudibranch. There were also lots of Oval moon snails small to medium sized. Many sand collars and blobby egg masses of possibly snails or worms. We saw two young Remarkable sea cucumbers, the Orange sand star and one Common sea star. But the shores are definitely quieter without the seagrasses.

At the natural rocky shore of Lazarus, there are sprinkles of Spoon seagrasses with tiny leaves. This is pretty the same situation as in the past.

We actually saw puddles of oil and sheen on our last survey here in Oct 2024, 4 months after the oil spill hit this shore. About 10 small patches oil slick. Also stretches of what seems to be oiled sand, and very dark blue sand where other people had dug into the sand. Today, there still seems to be traces of oil just beneath the sand - with a faint smell of hydrocarbon. The smell was stronger in sand at the South arm of Eagle Bay, while at the North arm it smelled more of hydrogen sulphide - natural anoxic smell of mangrove mud. 

Lazarus has among our last remaining natural rock cliffs, cloaked in coastal plants, some now rare because the habitat they prefer has been lost. These coastal plants are tough and even trees can cling to almost vertical rock surfaces. One of the dangers they face is rock slides. But some trees can even recover from these, growing new trunks up from the fallen trunk!

I check up on the Critically Endangered Bonduc of which only a few plants are known in the wild in Singapore. This is a very prickly bad-tempered plant! Its fierce hooks will catch onto clothing (or bare skin!) and are hard to dislodge. The one on Lazarus is a male plant, I have seen the female plant on Pulau Semakau. The Lazarus plant was badly chewed up with hardly any leaves on it in Mar 2021, but had recovered in Nov 2022. It was flourishing in Jan 2024 and Oct 2024, today it seems to have grown even larger and was flowering and in good health. 

The main component of the washed up litter on the shore remains single-use water cups - has been so for many years. These are not commonly used by beach goers or the local boating or fishing community. But these single-use water cups are apparently given out to passengers on ferries. It seems no facilities are provided at any of the piers/terminals under MPA's charge for vessels to responsibly dispose of trash generated during their operation. More in this post.

Background on the creation of Seringat-Kias

The southern shore of Lazarus that we surveyed today has seawalls. But this is minor compared to the massive reclamation that created Seringat-Kias, which buried the submerged reefs of Pulau Seringat and Terumbu Kias (The old boat operators still call the jetty there Renget). And connected it to the natural Lazarus Island. A causeway bridge joins these with St. John's Island. 

More about the reclamation and development in this old blog post which highlighted how lots of money and effort was made to make the artificial Seringat-Kias lagoon look natural: "In 2006, massive landscaping was reported of the 1km reclaimed beach on Lazarus to simulate a natural environment so that it would look 'natural and wild'. 5,000 lorry-loads of soil measuring two storeys high when piled up were brought in by barges, an entire coconut plantation in Malaysia was bought, about 1, 000 trees was trucked and shipped to the island."

from the Southern Islands Development Guide Plan (DGP) 1996

Besides the lush seagrasses in the large artificial lagoon, mangroves and seagrasses have also settled in a smaller Secret Mangrove Lagoon at no additional cost. I last surveyed this in Sep 2025.

Lazarus now part of the second Marine Park 

Plans for Singapore's second national Marine Park at Lazarus South-Kusu Reef were announced on 9 May 2024. Lazarus island has one of the few remaining natural rocky shores in Singapore, as well as one of the largest tracts of native-dominated mature secondary coastal forests in the Southern Islands, with some rare plant species. Media reports mention that to further study and determine the boundaries of the proposed marine park, NParks will work closely with URA and stakeholders such as the Friends of Marine Park, a community which includes divers, anglers, boat owners and academics, as well as government agencies, in the second half of 2024. The boundaries of the marine park at Lazarus South-Kusu Reef are slated to be finalised in 2025.

From "S'pore planning 2nd marine park at Lazarus & Kusu islands"
Ashley Tan, Mothership 9 May 2024

Lazarus Island in the Singapore Blue Plan

The cluster of Kusu, Lazarus and St. John's Islands has been recommended by the Singapore Blue Plan 2018 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 Kelvin Yong


Also on this survey: Stephanie Sukarti