Sharing Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal shores with youth leads

An amazing coral reef has naturally settled on the seawalls of Tanah Merah Ferry Terminal with seagrasses in the artificial lagoon. These happened without planting. They are the babies from unseen Mother Shores that lie in the far west.

We shared these with youth leads and hope they will be inspired to bring others to see other East Coast shores too. This shore is now strictly off limits without a permit. But we felt the youth leads should have a chance to see for themselves. The visit was arranged with permission.

This is part of Love Our Mother Shores. And how to Explore, Express and Act for them.

Thanks to Nasry for kickstarting the visit with an overview of the shore, using Google Earth. Thanks also to Jayden for organising the participation, sad that he could not come in the end.

We started at the lagoon to look at the seagrasses there. There is a thick pile of marine debris on the high shore. More about where this trash is likely to come from.

Grateful to have Lon who knows more about East Coast marine life than anyone else I know. And Richard, an experienced and professional nature guide. Thanks to them and Nasry, we saw Spider conch, Big top shell snail and small turban snail, sand dollars dead and alive, Common sea star. Thanks also to Samuel, who found a nudibranch! The seagrasses were doing well.

We rushed over the reefy seawall at the minimum of a not-so-low tide. It was a little hard to see the full extent of the corals. Hope the team got a sense of it. Thanks to Lon and Nasry for sharing more about them.

Where did all these corals come from?

The babies of these corals are from Singapore reefs! This chart shared in the Long-Term Plan Review shows coral larvae (babies) dispersal in our waters from mass coral spawning. This highlights the importance of protecting our 'mother reefs' so that they can continue to produce babies that settle all along our shoreline.

Thanks to everyone for making time for the brief visit despite not ideal tides! This is what we saw on a good low tide in May 2026. If you would like to join the effort to share about East Coast shores that have regenerated from babies of our Mother Shores, do consider joining the October talk and guiding workshop.

What is the fate of this shore?

Massive reclamation is planned near the area we surveyed today as outlined recently in the Long-Term Plan Review.