Beting Bemban Besar after the storm

A small team head through the storm to survey this humungous submerged reef near the ongoing reclamation at Pulau Sudong. 

Photo by Richard Kuah

They make all kinds of special finds including Knobbly sea stars and many colourful marinelife commonly seen on our reefs. The corals and seagrasses seem alright. I had to skip this survey to attend another advocacy event. So much thanks to Richard for making sure the team was safe.

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.

Is Beting Bemban Besar impacted by the Sudong reclamation?

As evening low tides start, we survey the north-western portion of Beting Bemban Besar, one of our largest submerged reefs. This area faces the ongoing 31ha Pulau Sudong reclamation.

At sunset, I saw some dugong feeding trails! There seagrasses were heavily covered in epiphytes. Corals seemed alright though they seem to be in better condition further away from Sudong. The rest of the team saw special corals, a Giant clam, sea stars, 'Nemos', other reef fishes and other interesting marine life. 

First look at Beting Bemban Kecil

For the first time, we get a glimpse of the small nameless reef that barely sticks out of the water even at the lowest tide. 

Lying between Beting Bemban Besar and Pulau Semakau, we dubbed it Beting Bemban Kecil aka Anak (Child of) BBB. The small intrepid team that braved the landing found a living shore with healthy corals, large anemones!

Beting Bemban Besar with seagrass recovery!

Probably our largest submerged reef, most of the team surveys the south-eastern portion of Beting Bemban Besar. This area also faces the ongoing Pulau Sudong reclamation. 

We find the seagrass meadows are growing well with signs of dugong. Corals are no longer bleaching, though rather sparse. Interesting marine life is also seen. A smaller team surveys for the first time, a small unnamed reef between BBB and Pulau Semakau. We have dubbed it Beting Bemban Kecil - more of what they saw here.

Bleaching seen at Beting Bemban Besar

For the first time, we survey the southern part of this enormous submerged reef flat. Because this area faces the Pulau Sudong reclamation which is scheduled for the end of this year.

We see signs of mass coral bleaching. There was widespread stress signs in hard and soft corals. We estimate about 10-20% were outright bleaching. 

Beting Bemban Besar still alright

On a scorching hot morning, we made a quick survey of one of Singapore's largest submerged reefs.

I didn't see any mass coral bleaching and the seagrasses seem to be stable. The rest of the team saw Knobbly sea stars, Giant clam, seahorse, sharks and other amazing marine life.

Beting Bemban Besar with some bleaching

A small team brave wet weather to check for coral bleaching at Beting Bemban Besar, one of Singapore's largest submerged reefs.

Although I did see some bleaching corals, most of the corals I saw were alright: so there doesn't seem to be mass coral bleaching here. The seagrasses here seem to continue to be doing well and the team found large Knobbly sea stars, a Giant clam and more.

Beting Bemban Besar with mass coral bleaching

Dr Jani Tanzil alerted us that mass coral bleaching may have started on our shores since the second week of June. So we are on the look out for this as we check up on Beting Bemban Besar during a brief window before heavy rain, and in not quite low tide.

Today, I estimate about 5% of the hard corals that I saw are bleaching. About 20% were showing stress (paler than usual or with bleaching portions) or with recently dead patches - mostly the large coral colonies.  I did see many smaller colonies that were alright. I didn't come across many leathery soft corals, most were alright. The situation wasn't as bad as what I saw during mass coral bleaching in 2016.

Beting Bemban Besar - corals, seagrasses and signs of dugong!

A large team turned out to survey Beting Bemban Besar even though it was a weekday. Which is a good thing because this submerged reef is HUGE!

It was great to see that seagrasses have started to cover large areas, although not very densely. I even saw what looked like dugong feeding trails! There are many kinds of corals at the reef edge, most were alright although I saw a few that were very pale and even bleaching. The team found colourful nudibranchs, cushion stars, large anemones with anemonefish and more!

Fiery seagrasses at Beting Bemban Besar!

I saw lots of Fire anemones today among the seagrasses of Beting Bemban Besar!

One of our largest submerged reefs, it was great to see fresh green seagrasses in the middle of Triple B, as we affectionately call it. It was also a relief to that there was not much bleaching seen on the reefs here.

Living shores of Beting Bemban Besar

A glorious sunset at the end of a survey of the southern side of Beting Bemban Besar, a really huge submerged reef off Pulau Semakau.

It was great to see the seagrasses are still doing well, teeming with a variety of marine life. Reminds me of Cyrene! We also saw Giant clam, large Knobbly sea stars, 'Nemos' and Alex our skipper saw sea turtles around the big boat while we were out surveying.

Seagrasses doing better at Beting Bemban Besar

Seagrasses appear to be doing better on Beting Bemban Besar, one of our largest submerged reefs!

Although I didn't come across many corals, none of them were bleaching.

Checking up Beting Bemban Besar

We revisit this part of the huge reef for the first time since Jun 2016 when it was suffering from mass coral bleaching.

In Jun 2016, the survey team estimates about 50% of the hard corals we saw were bleaching, 50% for leathery soft corals and 10% for sea anemones.

This reef in Jun 2016 during mass coral bleaching.

Today, there was no mass coral bleaching, but many large corals had bleaching patches or dead patches. And the reefy areas appear to have been taken over by various seaweeds. But we did find interesting animals and there are seagrasses in the middle of the reef.

Back to Beting Bemban Besar

We return to this part of the submerged reef for the first time in 5 years. It was heartening to see sprinkles of seagrasses here.

I saw a variety of corals, most were not bleaching but I did see some that were very pale.

Mass coral bleaching at Beting Bemban Besar

Mass coral bleaching is happening at Beting Bemban Besar, our largest submerged reef.

The survey team estimates about 50% of the hard corals we saw were bleaching, 50% for leathery soft corals and 10% for sea anemones. I was delighted to see lush seagrass meadows in the middle of the submerged reef!

Big stars on big Beting Bemban Besar

'Besar' means 'big' in Malay and this submerged reef is indeed enormous. We can only survey a tiny part of it on each visit.

Today, large sea stars, corals and other encounters. But zero Giant clams.

Starry on Beting Bemban Besar

Beting Bemban Besar is among the biggest of our submerged reefs. We explore a tiny portion of it during a lovely evening low tide.

Lots of corals, lots of Knobbly sea stars, also giant clam and other special finds.

Why do we need to kill the animals? and Day 6.5 of the Southern Expedition

I spotted one seahorse and Ivan spotted three! But we don't collect them as we know what they are: Tiger-tailed seahorses (Hippocampus comes).

Here's also a little more about animal collection during the Survey, why and  how it is done. And how this helps us better protect our richest shores.

Two Terumbus in one trip!

We land at first light on Beting Bemban Besar! The tide is a little high but we have a lot of ground to cover on this very large submerged reef.

We also hop over to nearby Terumbu Bemban as part of the recce for the Mega Marine Survey's  upcoming Southern Expedition in May.