Beting Bronok still alive

Our annual survey to this reefy northern flat is bitter-sweet. Like visiting our favourite grandma and watching her painfully, slowly fade away. I feel privileged to have seen her at her best.

Despite the ongoing reclamation works on Pulau Tekong nearby, and flaring at Penggerang Johor, it remains alive. Seagrasses remain abundant as much of the shore has become very soft and silty. The small patch rich with delicate colourful animals is still there although faltering a bit. The rest of the team spot special sea stars, sea horses, moray eel and many other interesting marine life. I will update with their finds later.

There is small reefy patch on Beting Bronok that I call the 'sponge garden'. In Jun 2024, there was mass dying of sponges in this area. In Jun 2025 there seemed to be some recovery with a wide variety of healthy sponges, especially on the seaward side. Today, the area with healthy sponges seems smaller and I saw fewer clumps of healthy sponges elsewhere on the reef flat. Yellow bumpy sponges remain  the most abundant kind but most were heavily coated in silt.

The most abundant cnidarian remains Button zoanthids which still cover large areas of the flat, very densely in some parts. The stinging hydroids were particularly abundant and large, many standing upright out of water like shrubs with evil intent. There were a lot of Spangled flatworms, individual sprinkled all over the reef flats. I saw one Ball flowery soft coral, one Pink flowery soft coral and one sea fan. Also one spiky sea pen, a few Haddon's carpet anemones. I saw one large Cake sea stars, but the rest of the team saw echinoderms of all kinds. I will update with their observations later.

I still saw small healthy Boulder pore corals colonies, but much fewer. In Jun 2024 at the height of mass coral bleaching, I saw about 40 corals: 100% were bleaching. In Jun 2025, I saw about 20 corals, half were okay, the rest were stressed or had large dead portions and even a bit of bleaching. Today, I saw 10 corals all okay except 2 that were very pale. I also saw a Small goniopora coral, and some tiny Neat hexa corals.

Thick layers of soft sediments have built up even more compared to our previous visits. Over the years, I sense that Beting Bronok has gradually become larger. With 'new' soft silty areas growing on the south-west edge, where seagrasses have started to grow. Since Jun 2025, I noticed the 'stingray' lagoon to the north-west has become shallower.

Seagrasses seem to thrive on this sediment layer and now dominate all parts of the reef. They continue to grow on large areas of the southern tip and elsewhere. All Spoon seagrasses (with most large leaf blades but also some small) grow lush and fresh and green (no epiphytes). I have seen this since Jun 2018. Since our last survey in Jun 2024, I noticed more of them in the lagoon in the middle of the reef flat, today, there are even more. There were also many large patches of Parasol green seaweed.

Over the years, the reefy patch on Beting Bronok seems to wax and wane. Beting Bronok remains a pale shadow of itself. Here's what Beting Bronok looked like twenty years ago in 2003.

Beting Bronok in 2003.

Beting Bronok in 2003.

There used to be a wondrous variety of sea fans.

Sea fans on Beting Bronok in 2004.

Here's more old photos of marine life at Beting Bronok. Lost forever probably are the wonderful Sunflower mushroom corals and other corals that we used to see here.

Where is Beting Bronok? What is its status and future?

When the 2030 landuse plan by the Ministry of National Development was announced, it was also announced that Beting Bronok and Pulau Unum have been granted 'Nature Area' status. As I understand it, this status means the area "will be kept for as long as possible until required for development". Here's an earlier about 'Nature Area' status seem to mean.

Today, we started our survey before dawn. And throughout, there was massive flaring at petrochemical plants at Pengerang Johor. This has been going on for years now. This petrochemical complex that was rejected in Taiwan for environmental and health reasons. 

The flaring is so intense, it looks like a 'false dawn'. Real dawn on the left.

We will continue to keep watch over this special little reef and hope for the best.