Beting Bemban Besar in the face of Sudong reclamation

The tiny team surveys on a short tide window this humungous submerged reef near the ongoing reclamation at Pulau Sudong. Water remains clear and the shore was alive. 

It was a relief to see the seagrass continuing to recover, with signs of dugong feeding trails! Corals seem okay and the rest of the team make all the special finds: sharks, giant clams, fields of branching corals and other colourful marine life.

Here is a little video clip of some of the corals I saw, including a Giant carpet anemone with super tiny 'Nemo' in it. We seem to be seeing a lot of super tiny 'Nemo's on recent trips. Perhaps a mass recruitment has occured.

As usual, the rest of the team make all the special finds! Richard saw a peaceful shark patrolling the reef edge. The most beautiful jade green Fluted giant clam was found, as well as a Burrowing giant clam. Many Red feather stars were seen. As well as the usual colourful crabs, slugs and interesting reef life.

Collage of photos by the team. Links to their albums below.

I have not seen a lot of hard corals on this shore since I started surveying. I walked the eastern shore where there were mostly small boulder shaped corals of the commonly encountered variety. The team walked the western shore and saw fields of Branching montipora and large colonies on the reef edge. They also saw mushroom corals and other less commonly encountered kinds of corals.

Collage of photos by the team. Links to their albums below.

As usual, there were many medium-sized colonies of Leathery soft coral, with a few large colonies. I saw a few Giant carpet anemones, and some Asparagus flowery soft corals and Sea mat zoanthids. None were bleaching.

I saw many dugong feeding trails at the north-east, some were quite faint where the seagrass cover was sparse.  On our last survey in Oct 2025, I only saw a few near our landing point on the sandbar at southern portion of the reef flat. These trails are formed when dugongs chomp up seagrasses including their roots, leaving a shallow meandering furrow of about equal width and depth.

The seagrasses continue to do well! We first observed seagrass recovery on our Jul 2025 survey and today those I saw on the eastern shore of the reef flat seem to be doing well. Sprinkles of seagrasses evenly covered most of the area with scattered patches of denser growth. Most seem fresh and green. Besides the common seagrasses, I saw Spoon seagrass with large leaves and also Noodle seagrass.  I saw some clumps of Tape seagrass, many of them had longish leaves (30cm). 

The rest of the team also shared glimpses of good seagrass coverage and growths on the western side of this shore.

Collage of photos by the team. Links to their albums below.

The extent and intensity of reclamation today was much higher than what we saw on our last survey of Beting Bemban Besar in Oct 2025. Rui Quan got a shot of the large vessel shooting out sand to build yet another mountain of sand. But the water at Beting Bemban Besar was clear, similar to what we saw at our last survey at Terumbu Bemban (which is closer to the work site) on Apr 2026. I saw one propped up pole on Beting Bemban Besar. We saw many more similar poles on our last survey at Terumbu Bemban last month and in Aug 2025. Hopefully, these are sites where they monitor the impact of works on nearby submerged reefs? 

From Port Marine Notice No. 55 of 2026 "Reclamation at Pulau Sudong" with effect from 08 Apr 2026 to 07 Oct 2026. The works involve the installation of navigational buoys, removal of metallic debris, demolition of abandoned jetty, dredging works, installation of marine staging platforms for soil instrumentation, infilling works, marine vibrocompaction, stone revetment works, and jetty construction to facilitate the reclamation and jetty construction works at Pulau Sudong.

Here is the location of Terumbu Pempang Tengah and other nearby shores in relation to the Sudong reclamation.

What is the fate of Beting Bemban Besar?

Large areas nearby are also slated for massive reclamation outlined recently in the Long-Term Plan Review.

The Singapore Blue Plan 2018

Pulau 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

Richard Kuah


Tommy Tan



Rui Quan Oh