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. 

Recovery on Beting Bronok!

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 seems to have recovered from the mass dying we saw last year. 

Today, the team saw lots of interesting marine life including an explosion of tiny sea anemones. It was a relief to see many kinds of sea stars, 5 seahorses (a record for us!), moray eels and lots of nudibranchs. 

Mass coral bleaching and dying sponges at Beting Bronok

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 patch rich with delicate colourful animals is still there, but there seems to be a lot recent sponge death. Also, practically 100% of all hard corals here were bleaching. But the team saw lots of nudibranchs and other marine life. Thanks to NParks for facilitating the survey!

Recovery continues at Beting Bronok?

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.

The patch rich with delicate colourful animals is still there. Despite the ongoing reclamation works on Pulau Tekong nearby, today, it seems lively. Seagrasses remain abundant as much of the shore has become very soft and silty. The team saw lots of nudibranchs and other marine life. Thanks to NParks for facilitating the survey!

Some recovery at Beting Bronok?

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.

The patch rich with delicate colourful animals is still there. Despite the ongoing reclamation works on Pulau Tekong, today, it seems more lively. Seagrasses are even more abundant as much of the shore has become very soft and silty. The team saw lots of nudibranchs, large sea stars and other marine life.

Beting Bronok - changing to a seagrassy shore?

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.

The patch rich with delicate colourful animals is still there, but the patch seems smaller with every annual visit.  Seagrasses are even more abundant as much of the shore has become very soft and silty. Most of the hard corals I saw were pale and some were bleaching. 

Beting Bronok hangs on to her beauty

The fragile beauty of Beting Bronok never fails to capture my heart. But our annual survey here 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.

Today, there is thankfully, no sign of mass coral bleaching. The patch rich with delicate colourful animals is still there, but the patch seems smaller with every visit. It was nice to see that seagrasses are more abundant on the now soft silty shore.

Beting Bronok slowly fading away

On our last survey in Jun 2018, I thought I saw some slight improvement at Beting Bronok. Today, I sense the situation has deteriorated. It seems more similar to the situation in Jun 2017. There are still some colourful sponges, and some sea fans on the small richest corner of Beting Bronok. But not as many as I had seen a year ago.

Our annual trips to Beting Bronok are bitter-sweet. Like visiting our favourite grandma and watching her painfully, slowly fade away. I feel privileged to have seen her at her best.

Beting Bronok doing better?

Today, Beting Bronok seems to be doing better. With many more hard corals, some nice patches of colourful sponges and marine life, and larger expanses of seagrasses. Nevertheless, the shore remains a pale shadow of its former glory.

Our annual trips to Beting Bronok are bitter-sweet. Like visiting our favourite grandma and watching her painfully, slowly fade away. I feel privileged to have seen her at her best.

Beting Bronok slowly dying

This shore is close to last week's an oil spill off Pengerang. Six months ago, there was a 300-tonne oil spill in the East Johor Strait that impacted Pulau Ubin. During our last survey in Jun 2016, we saw coral bleaching.

Today, I'm relieved that I didn't see any coral bleaching. Although there were fewer hard corals, and I saw pale and 'melting' sponges as well as some pale flowery soft corals, we did see a wide variety of marine life. Nevertheless, Beting Bronok continues to decline and appears to be slowly dying.

Oil spill off Pulau Tekong in Johor waters 15 Jun 2017

An oil tanker MT Putri Sea sank in Johor waters off Pulau Tekong, after an explosion on board on 15 Jun 2017 before dawn.

Location of incident from TODAY

When authorities arrived at the accident area, the tanker not in sight, "but there were traces of an oil spill in the area". Earlier reports said the tanker was believed to be carrying 'crude oil', later amended to 'fuel'. So far, no updates on what was spilled, how much and what was done about the spill.

Bleaching at Beting Bronok

I am always hesitant about visiting Beting Bronok, because I've seen a slow decline over the years and it's painful because I've seen it in its full glory.

Today, I was glad to see good growths of sponges and other reef life. Although there were also signs of mass coral bleaching.

Beting Bronok's slow death continues

An overdose of nudibranchs at Beting Bronok this morning! I saw about six of these fat Ceratosoma gracillimum more commonly seen by divers in reefs.

We also came across many fascinating marine creatures. But alas, Beting Bronok continues to decline and appears to be slowly dying.

Beting Bronok still slowly dying

It was good to see sponges and colourful marine life on Beting Bronok, our last submerged reef in the North.

Alas, during our annual visits over the last decade we notice that the reef seems to be dying a slow death.

Slow death on Beting Bronok

What a surprise to see this huge nudibranch on the intertidal! It is Ceratosoma gracillimum and more commonly seen by divers.

Beting Bronok is our last submerged reef in the North. Although we saw all kinds of spectacular marine life today, the reef is a pale shadow of its former self and I think is slowly dying.

Beting Bronok still beautiful

We visit Beting Bronok, a submerged reef on our Northern shore, once a year. Just to see how it's doing.

This morning, I was delighted to see that Beting Bronok is still very much alive. Some parts of the shore are thick with sponges and other colourful soft corals and cnidarians.

Pollutive petrochemical plant may be relocated near our Northern shores

A petrochemical complex that was rejected in Taiwan for environmental and health reasons may be relocated to Pengerang, Johor.

Rich shores in the vicinity include Chek Jawa on Pulau Ubin, Singapore's best natural mangroves on Pulau Tekong, our best northern submerged reef Beting Bronok and Changi's seagrass meadows.

Beting Bronok hit by a ferry

A large ferry ran aground on Beting Bronok on 7 Jun 2011.

According to shipping-data, the FB Falcon Princess
is a 50 dwt passenger ferry.  Photo from shipwrecklog.

Beting Bronok is a lovely submerged reef off Pulau Tekong. During our visit last month, we saw lots of soft corals, rare snails and other marine life.

Beting Bronok is alive!

This beautiful nudibranch is quite commonly seen on Beting Bronok. This pair looked like they were about to make new nudibranchs.

I saw these delightful creatures during our annual visit to Beting Bronok, a submerged reef on our Northern shore

Massive petroleum terminal in Johor: a 'Jurong Island' off our northern shores

Work on a deepwater petroleum terminal in Pengerang, Johor is expected to begin in April. In earlier reports, this would be developed on 500 acres of reclaimed land in Johor.

Location of the development, from the Dialog Group website.

Malaysia is "looking to transform it along the lines of Singapore's Jurong Island petrochemical complex."