Labrador - hope & rebirth..... and waiting

A Christmas day surprise.... the cofferdam walls are coming down!












But there is sooooo much debris..... I hope MPA and their main contractor do a good cleanup job! (hint : remove all foreign objects). I wonder where these concrete chunks will be dumped? Will they be totally removed from Labrador or will they merely be dumped 'out of sight'? After all, concrete is supposed to be 'good' for reefs (refer to the reefbuilding project at the other end of Labrador Beach).


There were a quite a few 'new' tires on the beach... these were most likely abandoned by the contractors from their boats/barges as they were all within a few metres of each other and not spread out over the whole length of the beach (which would imply that they floated in from far and away).

Loose tires are a constant feature on Singapore's shores. Commonly used by local marine craft as a cheap and effective bumper, these are frequently cut away or thrown overboard by boatowners/operators just so that they do now have to dispose of them on their own. Perhaps could insist that boatoperators print their boat registration numbers on all such tires so that errant litterbugs can be identified and prosecuted. MPA are after all in charge of marine pollution concerns.








This looks newly put up. Sumitomo Corp are the main contractors. I wonder what their environmental policy is. Construction-site first and Environment later or vice versa...or a quirky balance of both depending on who's looking and asking questions?




It was thought that some of the items and rubbish seen earlier had already been removed. Eg. the outboard motor. (see : https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7iOTtxe8Qc4UgHBqVM8eInyB6Wsmomyn__yuk7i76b5sQgf2vSKAfHfo4mL3uO6rqfiN4rv3GWqBatGHs9i2RpYA7FuFESHnmo0FgZHyXzmMogUwi8NSxjfVMrulQcuL4CYuf-9tm8vg/s1600-h/d7881m6.jpg)

Correction : the outboard motor is still there. Something that heavy could not have been floated in with the tide.


The poorly thought out reefbuilding ($145,000) project
Things are still gloomy for the more visible beach end of Labrador Nature Reserve.

Here's a pic showing what's left of the "experiment in progress' sign.....sigh!
Building a reef is good...but the methods used must support the ecosystem as a whole and not carelessly or inadvertently harm one part whilst showing that effort was expended to improve another part. This especially so when the methods used do not exhibit any signs of adequate planning. (How else can one explain the abandonement of at least 3 seacil structures all over the intertidal zone?).


Close-ups of the some of the concrete seacils




What an EYESORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!




More plastic.


A disintegrating corner of one of the abandoned seacil structures. Plastic piping is good for our nature reserves?






More plastic bits.


A shot from above...



And more plastic....which will break off and form part of our shores forever...all because some educational institution decided to abandon their unwanted seacil structures on the shore. Why did they not want so many structures which they had painstakingly built? ... Could it be because of improper planning? Or the team got tired? And did not want to deal with removing the monstrousity they had created?




Probably one of the seacil pipe sections...moving off to 'start life' on it's own.


Another long pipe section...
Wait a minute...these pipe sections mean that the seacils deposited on the seabed must have broken up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! These pieces must have been washed ashore. So all may not be well for the project.








Another piece which may have broken up from the deposited seacils. Sigh.

The standard of execution is wanting.....actually it is embarassing that an institution of higher learning can justify (and continue to ignore calls to remedy the situation) the dumping of unwanted structures on the shores and filled with all kinds of plastic bits to break off. A generation of students is going to graduate with this in mind...that it is ok to do so. Sigh.

Some Questions :-

1. What sort of planning was made?
2. Who was involved in approving the project?
3. Did the planning involve the use of the foreshore within the nature reserve to use as a construction site? Bear in mind that the foreshore area would have been heavily trampled on during the construction phase.
4. Were experts consulted on the project and in particular the exact way in which the materials were going to be used and assembled (and abandoned)?
5. Why were so many (up to 4 separate pieces are visible) structures abandoned on the shore?
6. Was there any approval from the authorities that the structures could be abandoned?
   
7. Is there any of the $145,000 left to handle the remediation of the foreshore due to the abandoned structures? If no, how was the $145,000 all spent?
   
8. Despite knowing about the abandonment of the structures for so many months now (about 1.5 years in fact), are there any concrete (pun intended) plans to remove the concrete structures?

"Our Environmental Policy

^{(Since 19 May 2005)}

[--] will protect, care for and continually improve our environment by complying with relevant legislation and requirements, and maintaining an effective Environmental Management System that enables us to create a cleaner and healthier environment for ourselves and future generations."

Well, this school is in likely already in breach of at least 2 legislative provisions in the Parks and Trees Act and the Environmental Public Health Act. Sigh.

Come on! Clean up your mess. It's about time. There is simply NO excuse to delay further.

links :-
http://wildfilms.blogspot.com/2007/12/labrador-nature-reserve-trashed.html
http://jus-dive.blogspot.com/2007/12/labrador-speaks-thousand-words.html
http://www.wildsingapore.com/news/20070910/071029-1.htm
http://wildfilms.blogspot.com/2007/10/debris-on-labrador-explained.html

Labrador Mangrove/Berlayar Creek Bay 25Nov2007

Facing Pulau Keppel. I wonder where this pipe came from? Was it left behind or did it come from the other end of Labrador where the seacils were deposited. It looks more like a sanitation pipe though. Probably left behind when the Keppel Marina vacated(?) or dumped from a passing vessel. It may have floated in.


A lone carpet anemone. No nemos or shrimp.


Fishing line with a double hook.....very dangerous for anyone walking about.



The majestic Sea Almond(Ketapang) tree below 20 Bukit Chermin. It must be very old. The trunk itself is impressive to see!


An opportunistic fisherman set up his rod all the way out at the lowest tide.


A lone stripped Hermit Crab. (Clibanarius sp.)


A lone peacock anemone.


One end of the gill net maze. The bump at the left end towards the middle of the pic is the horseshoe crab shell. See pic below! :(


A large *coastal horsehoe crab (probably female) long dead in one of the discarded gill nets.

It looks as if the gill nets were set up in a maze as there were quite a few tangents which were secured deep within the sand. Very few organisms would have escaped the tangling grasp of the nets. Once collapsed, no crawling animal would be able to escape it. The unfortunate thing about the meganet was that it started close to the channel leading into the mangrove. This effectively would catch everything trying to make way into the mangrove.

During the course of the day, we would see 6 separate discarded gill nets and two dead horseshoe crabs.


*Tachypleus Gigas, Horseshoe crabs are not crabs but are more closely related to spiders and scorpions. Sadly, the coastal horseshoe crab is listed as one of the threatened animals and this is mainly due to habitat destruction. **There is virtually no other mangrove ecosystem on the southern coast of Singapore except that at Berlayar. All the rest has been cleared for development.


Broken glass bottle piece...one of many such smaller pieces...too bad for anyone walking about thinking it was safe to do so.


Table frame...huh? Where did this come from? This was new as it was not seen the weekend earlier. However, judging from the encrusting barnacles, it must have been in the water for some time but only moved out onto the beachfront during the week. How???


Another shot of the table frame in front of the Keppel Club.


Another discarded fishing hook....the colourful ones are supposed to be better to fish with?





We came across this abandoned boat on wooden poles about 100m in. Looks like someone was using it but was not at home.

Syrofoam box and dark green container to it's left purposefully left behind by visitors to the docked boat. The containers were uncovered and full of water. Lovely place to breed mosquitoes!


Discarded netting and traps below the boat.


Evidence of the sticky chewy mudcapade. Never go in alone. If you get stuck (and you really may...two of us did...and one was the rescuer of the other who in turn needed rescuing), you will most certainly have to brave drowning or the other mangrove inhabitants as the tide rises. [Imagine the newspapers quoting the golfers across saying that they thought they heard screams but thought nothing of it as winds have a similar effect around the evergreen grassy knolls.]



Plastic up on a tree and a tin can snug in a crevice.


Anyone know what kind of snail this is? A not-so-common common nerite?


A tree-loving onchidium! The only one seen!


Rock oyster...only a few seen.


Another coastal horseshoe crab (triangulated tail section) long dead due to a discarded gill net.


Another discarded gill net and trap....waiting to snare another crab.


It is ironic that so many nets and traps were found and so few sign of life we are accustomed to seeing even as near away as Sentosa's shores just across from Berlayar Creek. Why does Berlayar have so little? Could this be a seasonal occurrence or could there be some residual form of pollution making life difficult? With so much junk on our shores and so many threats, there is a slim chance that Berlayar Creek will regain it's old splendour. But we can do as much as we can to ensure that it does. We have to care about our last remaining shores and mangroves and hope that whatever the rich biodiversity returns.

Members of the public appreciating the wonderful sightings.


At least there are some birds who have the ability to find better feeding grounds but monitor the background as well..or you'll just miss monitoring the monitor!



other blogs on the same trip :-
http://ashira.blogspot.com/2007/11/mucking-around-berlayar-creek.html
http://wherediscoverybegins.blogspot.com/2007/11/discovery-labrador-mangroves-on-25-nov.html