Less starry at a Changi shore

I made a quick solo survey of sliver of Changi shore that is seldom done by the whole team. I surveyed in Jul 2025 following a break in May 2021. 

The seagrasses seem to be doing well in the less disturbed parts of the shore. But I saw fewer and smaller sea stars. The shore was affected by seawall works all of 2024. It doesn't seem to have recovered fully from this yet.

I was relieved to see some Biscuit sea stars, which seemed to have disappeared from some of our northern shores in recent years. Compared to our  last survey in Jul 2025, I didn't any big ones, only small or tiny ones today. All the others sea stars I saw were small or tiny: Eight-armed sand star, Cake sea star, Plain sand star. I didn't see any Knobbly sea stars. I saw some of the sea cucumbers commonly seen on our northern shores, all were small or tiny, and not super abundant. Only the Ball sea cucumbers were the usual size.

I saw a mama octopus near her egg strings inside an empty volute shell. Mama octopuses will guard their eggs not eating, and often dying after the eggs hatch. Not sure why the shell is in this state and parts of the egg string broken off nearby. I hope she can fix things when the tide returns. The most abundant anemone remains Haddon's carpet anemones, I didn't see any other kinds of anemones. I saw one cerianthid but no sea pens. I didn't see any live volutes, but empty shells were occupied by crabs or hermit crabs. There were a few large Moon snail sand collars. I looked for and didn't find any Ghost crab burrows until the seawall and sand bags ended.

As during the Jul 2025 survey, in the more undisturbed part of the shore, there were patches of healthy looking Fern seagrass (which is only common in our Northern shores like Changi, Chek Jawa and Pulau Sekudu). There were also lush Needle seagrass (narrow leaves) and Spoon seagrass (big leaves). Elsewhere, there were sprinkles of Spoon seagrass with small leaves. Today, also Needle seagrass with narrow leaves.

The legs of a jetty nearby still had colourful sponges, ascidians and hyroids. But I didn't see any sea fans or feather stars or flowery soft corals, no cowries or flatworms. Seems like the diversity is even lower than our last survey in Jul 2025, which was already lower than our survey in May 2021. There were still some sprinkles of the usual sponges, ascidians and hydroids. As on our last survey in Jul 2025, I didn't see the Burgundy anemone  - it was still there in May 2021, I first saw it in Sep 2018. 

Similar to our survey in Jul 2025. It is no longer possible to access this shore without climbing seawalls, or walking a long distance to where this is easier access. The seawalls along the entire shoreline from the SAF Ferry Terminal to Carpark 3 were being repaired most of 2024. Beyond the granite seawall, there is now a stretch of huge bags forming a wall. Below the 'bag' area, large rocks. The shore directly opposite the work area still has a lot of coarse sand and the sand bars there have hardly any seagrass.

Fishing seems a common activity from the seawall.  I saw one crab trap, a few fishing rods, many entangled fishing lines and some long abandoned nets already grown over by seaweeds.

What is the fate of these shores?

In 2013, the plans were to reclaim all of Pasir Ris, all of Changi from Carpark 1 to Carpark 7 and beyond, and reclaim Chek Jawa and Pulau Sekudu. These appear to remain in place in the Long-Term Plan Review. Including plans for a road link that starts at Pasir Ris, crosses to Pulau Ubin, right across Chek Jawa to Pulau Tekong, and back to the mainland at Changi East.

 Aviation Park reclamation at Changi

In Jul 2025, it was announced that adjustments were made to protect seagrasses at Changi from Carpark 6 to 7, in a planned 193ha reclamation to develop an aviation park. The original reclamation outlined in the Long-Term Plan, was cut by nearly one-fifth, or 45ha. This adjustment will benefit a seagrass area of about 34ha. But a study found seagrasses off the north of Changi Beach Park, Changi Golf Club and Chek Jawa Wetlands are expected to suffer from a “slight negative impact”, even if measures to blunt the reclamation’s impact are adopted. Corals within the project’s footprint and a surrounding buffer area will be transplanted elsewhere before development works begin. No timeline was given for the reclamation.

See Changi shores for yourself!

They are easy to get to, and enjoyed by many people. It remains rich in marine life. More details in "Changi - an easy intertidal adventure for the family".