A restricted East Coast Park site continues to thrive

Corals have settled on a 2.5km long seawall at East Coast Park stretching to Marina Bay! Seagrass meadows carpet the lagoon behind the seawall, while mangroves settled on the breakwaters. This shore was hit by by mass coral bleaching and the 400tonne Pasir Panjang oil spill in 2024.

Fortunately, we already noticed recovery in Nov 2025, which seems to be continuing today. Well formed corals were seen at the seawall, lush seagrass meadows on the artificial lagoon and mangroves growing on the seawall were doing well. Thanks for permission from agencies to survey this shore.

Today, our Human Climbing Crabs were surveying another shore, so no one really looked closely at the seawall. I had a closer look by feebly walking along the low shore. There were some large coral colonies which were well formed and had no dead patches.

We came across 2 Spiny sea stars and 1 young Purple-legged crab: these are common in the North but less so in the south. I also saw a moon snail in the process of eating a struggling bivalve. Sponges, colourful hydroids and zoanthids also grew on the seawalls, while we saw a moult of a horseshoe crab, and shell of a Fan clam. There was one Diadema sea urchin among the seagrass.

At the 'elbow' of a breakwater, floating things will gather and pool. Such as mangrove seedlings, seagrass seeds. Indeed, there are lush seagrass growths here, as well as mangroves. While corals grow on the seawall too.

Some mangroves have settled naturally on the back of the breakwater wall. In Jun 2024, the seawall was heavily coated in oil and there was a large 'pancake' of oil at the base of the wall. The prop roots of the two bigger trees were heavily coated in oil. Smaller saplings were festooned with oil-slicked litter. 

As they did on our last survey in Nov 2025, the mangrove trees were free of oil, prop roots looked fresh and clean, and they were flowering and producing propagules. Even the little sapling survived and seem to have grown a little!

Today the tide was very low, exposing a large expanse of seagrasses growing in the artificial lagoon formed behind the 2.5km long seawall. There remains many patches of Needle seagrass (both skinny and broad leaf blades) and Spoon seagrasses (both small and large leaf blades). I saw a small patch of Sickle seagrass. Lester confirmed there were still sprinkles of of Fern seagrass which we saw here for the first time in Nov 2025 - the first time outside of Changi and Chek Jawa.

Since our Nov 2025 survey, most abundant seagrass remains Noodle seagrass! They formed dense patches everywhere on the shore and low water mark, with very long (20cm) fresh green leaves. On our Jun 2024 survey, I only saw a few patches on them. There were also many patches of Serrated ribbon seagrass everywhere. These two species also dominate the East Coast (Sailing Centre) shore that we surveyed a few days ago. These two species are not as commonly seen on our other shores, not sure what is going on.

Similar to our Jun 2024 and Nov 2025 survey, I saw many clumps of Tape seagrass, both on the low water mark and in deeper water in the middle of the lagoon. Even inside the canal! All had nice long leaves, I didn't see any with cropped leaves. One clump had developing female flowers. I also noticed that the leaves 'stood' straight up from the ground. Not sure whether the cropping we see on Tape seagrasses growing elsewhere is due to the leaves laying flat against the ground? Must observe them more closely.

This shore is closed to the public and thus not cleaned as regularly as our recreational beaches. There has thus always been a large and growing pile of litter here. I also saw an abandoned net, overgrown with seaweeds, washed up on the shore. Today, it was super low and I noticed a line of litter that accumulates at the low water mark as well. Among the litter were many single-use water cups, which commonly wash up on beaches along the ferry routes. 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.

We spent a bit of time in the public area waiting for the tide to fall low enough for safe access to the restricted area. The public area has a smaller representation of corals on a seawall and seagrasses on an artificial lagoon. The corals were doing well, seagrasses growing lush, against a backdrop of condos, and the angry red glow in the distance is flaring at Penggerang Johor that we saw yesterday at Beting Bronok! 

What is the fate of this shore?

East Coast shores slated for massive reclamation outlined recently in the Long-Term Plan Review. There were additional details, plans for a 'Long Island' opposite East Coast Park is now official. In addition to more reclamation along that shoreline, already unveiled in 2013.

This shore will also be affected by plans for Long Island.

Natural regeneration on Singapore's artificial shores and structures is already happening now. Unintentionally, with zero replanting. Can we plan coastal works to allow reefs, mangroves and seagrasses to naturally regenerate? Naturalise canals leading to the sea for a continuum of freshwater wetlands to mangroves? Imagine what's possible! Reefs and natural marine ecosystems at our doorstep, for all in the City to enjoy. More about this idea in my feedback to the Draft Master Plan 2013.

The Singapore Blue Plan 2018

Check out the Singapore Blue Plan 2018 which outlines community recommendations for all these shores. DOWNLOAD the Plan, SUPPORT the Plan! More on the Singapore Blue Plan 2018 site.

See East Coast shores for yourself. It's fun and easy to explore these shores. More details in "East Coast Park - Surprising intertidal adventures for the family". The public can visit the shorter seawall and seagrasses in the smaller lagoon outside the restricted area.