West Coast Park beach

West Coast Park has re-opened the beach access after a long long wait.

The beachfront is actually in three sections, two of which are divided by a pier looking out at the RSYC berths and the Poly Marina.







It even has a small rocky shore habitat!...very small though.




A small section of mangrove trees....


Local fishermen use the beach for boat maintenance.

West Coast fishing - 7 bags full and scubatanks even

Was at WCP and saw a group of fishermen sharing an amazing catch... they had an assortment of fish and about 10 huge cuttlefish (rugby ball sized). They must have caught about 100 fish.

Wasn't able to sneak pics of the fish but they had lots of colourful fish like the copper banded butterfly fish(who would eat this?), and large coral angelfish...in bright yellows and blues. (see link : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_angelfish_group).

They has so many fish that some were thrown back into the water. They fishers also had some scuba tanks, full wetsuits and gear....looks like they dived as well!...or maybe used the scubatanks to help them catch the fish...?


da boat...


Sharing the catch...about 7 large bags full.




Looks like fishing is taking on a more deeper (pun intended) level... even scuba gear is now part of the fishing gear.

over-indiscriminate fishing?

Friday 21st March 2008 - came across a group of rod/line fishermen surveying their catch from the night before...







Note the size of the stingrays...rather small (about 20cm across) ...perhaps juveniles...(see pic above, the rays are at the top right)


The catch included another unusual ray...a spotted eagle ray! It is actually rarely seen in Singapore waters. This was also rather small (about 40 cm across) . (The largest specimens can grow up to a maximum wingspan of 3 m (10 ft) and a mass of 230 kg)!!!


If the local fishing scene does not realise that removing juvenile fish will impact reproduction and future generations...then we will see fewer and fewer fish in local waters. And then people will get bored with fishing seeing that they catch nothing....the demise of the fishing scene beckons.

Know your fish! If a small fish is caught, then please throw them back alive and well so that they can be a part of the replenishing team for future generations. Take a picture with your phone camera and release the small ones. Only take the much larger ones if you have to!

This will ensure that local fish stocks survive.

links on eagle rays :-
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/SERay/SERay.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eagle_ray
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spotted_eagle_ray
http://www.elasmodiver.com/spotted_eagle_ray.htm

The rays get even... (an unfortunate incident)...
Eagle Ray kills woman!
http://cbs4.com/local/marathon.stingray.woman.2.681445.html


Another eagle ray incident :-
http://cbs4.com/pets/Sting.Ray.Attack.2.681910.html

Marine rubbish .. .the problem is getting bigger....and bigger.

The world's rubbish dump: a garbage tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-garbage-tip-that-stretches-from-hawaii-to-japan-778016.html

Why plastic is the scourge of sea life http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/steve-connor-why-plastic-is-the-scourge-of-sea-life-778017.html

Sea change
http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/leading-articles/leading-article-sea-change-778041.html