Best of our wild blogs:19 Sep 10

Chek Jawa with Katong Convent
from wild shores of singapore

A hefty hoist and I’m up a tree for kite removal!
from News from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

How to reduce flooding in Singapore? Harvest more rainwater!
from Water Quality in Singapore

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Sun, sand, sea... and tonnes of debris

East Coast Park beach is Singapore's dirtiest, due to seaborne garbage and human litter
Melissa Pang Straits Times 19 Sep 10;

Flotsam and Jetsam may be just a pair of evil eels in a popular Disney cartoon movie, but flotsam and jetsam are real problems for Singapore's beach cleaners.

The seaborne garbage - from seaweed to plastic bottles and stuff jettisoned from ships - gets deposited on local shores, thanks to the seasonal monsoons.

As much as five tonnes of debris are collected daily from East Coast Park beach during the south-west monsoon from May to October each year.

During the off-season, less than one tonne is collected every other day, said the National Environment Agency (NEA).

Besides cleaning up the 10.7km East Coast Park beach, NEA also ensures that Changi, Sembawang Park and Pasir Ris beaches are maintained.

Changi, which has a 6.2km stretch, can accumulate up to three tonnes of rubbish daily from November to April during the north-east monsoon. Off-season, one tonne is cleared every other day.

Pasir Ris and Sembawang Park are affected by the north-east monsoon too.

'The most debris is at East Coast and Changi. You won't know this because cleaners are out by 7am to sweep them clean,' said Mr N. Sivasothi of the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore (ICCS), made up of volunteers from the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research of the National University of Singapore.

ICCS adds to NEA's efforts by organising coastal cleanups as well.

Yesterday, more than 3,000 volunteers from over 60 schools, institutes, organisations and government and corporate bodies took part in cleanup efforts across the island to mark the International Coastal Cleanup (ICC) day. This year's programme has attracted more than 4,000 volunteers, and will take place over three weekends.

ICC is an annual event conducted on the third Saturday of September in up to 100 countries.

Coordinated by the non-profit United States-based agency, Ocean Conservancy, it is now into its 25th year. It aims to remove debris and collect data on it - from shorelines, waterways and beaches worldwide.

During last year's ICC day, over 3,000 volunteers here picked up more than 13 tonnes of trash from 20km of coastline.

The volunteer team that coordinates the ICC in Singapore also helps to conduct other cleanups here during the year, especially at mangrove and sandy shore areas that are not cleaned daily.

A spokesman for NEA said it spends about $1.4 million a year to clean the four recreational beaches here.

During the monsoons, cleaners scour the beaches twice daily; otherwise, they do it once daily or every other day.

A team of cleaners starts work as early as 6am, and the process can take as long as six hours. Because of the size of East Coast Park beach and the level of human activity, up to 30 cleaners are needed to help clear the debris. The other beaches require between three and 10 cleaners.

One cleaner drives and operates a machine that scoops up the litter, while the others, such as Mr Mahmood Amin, collect the litter manually using rakes.

'Some of the stranger items I've picked up are car tyres and huge tree branches. I enjoy the work, but it would be nice if people helped by not littering,' said the 38-year-old, who has been a cleaner for more than a year.

Collected debris goes straight to incineration plants and the Semakau landfill.

NEA's spokesman said that other than seaweed, debris brought in by the tides is the waste thrown into the sea by people.

Earlier this month, NEA released findings of a survey of water samples which showed that the waters off Pasir Ris contained unsafe levels of enterococcus, which can cause gastro-intestinal illnesses with vomiting and diarrhoea if swimmers come into contact with it.

The spokesman said the removal of debris along beaches will not affect the enterococcus count of water, as the bacterium is found in the faeces of humans and warm-blooded animals.

Ms Nicola Carter, 44, who visits East Coast Park beach occasionally, thinks the cleanliness of Singapore's beaches can be improved on.

'When the tides go down, you can see plenty of trash, especially at the more popular areas. Individuals have a responsibility for keeping the beaches clean,' said the sales manager.

Mr Sivasothi encourages the practice of 'the three Rs': Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. He said: 'Semakau's landfill is where the ash of our trash goes to.

'It was built at some cost to our natural heritage - coral reef and mangrove ecosystems in the area. We can make better use of that sacrifice by extending its lifespan if we reduce, reuse and recycle.'

Related links
International Coastal Cleanup Singapore blog and website with more about how you can sign up to join them.

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Car Free Day makes comeback

Goh Chin Lian Straits Times 19 Sep 10;

The motorcar may be king in next weekend's Formula 1 races here, but several hundred motorists will leave their metallic rides at home this Wednesday.

This is when more than 200 motorists mark the revived Car Free Day with the Automobile Association of Singapore (AAS), joining a worldwide movement introduced here by an environmental body in 2001 but abandoned two years later.

Also adopting Car Free Day in a separate campaign are more than 200 employees and customers of document equipment provider Fuji Xerox Singapore. The company is dangling 100 Nets FlashPay contactless cards and three iPod Shuffle audio players to staff and customers who sign up on its website.

AAS chief executive officer Lee Wai Mun told The Sunday Times: 'We are not asking people to give up driving, but to consider greener modes of transport, for example, carpooling, taking the public transport or using greener vehicles.'

Fuji's senior executive for corporate social responsibility, Mr Steven Liew, adopted the event for his company to dovetail with existing green efforts such as energy-saving measures in its buildings.

Their marking of Car Free Day follows a larger-scale green transport event today in Marina Bay: The Singapore G1, which promotes energy-efficient cars and alternative transport like cycling.

The organiser is the Singapore Environment Council, with government bodies like the National Environment Agency and Land Transport Authority endorsing it.

The council first organised Car Free Day in Singapore in 2001, but stopped after 2003 for several reasons, said its executive director, Mr Howard Shaw.

It found that motorists will not give up their car after spending so much money on it. Transport planners also did not envisage a car-free Singapore, but deemed cars to be part of an integrated transport system, said Mr Shaw.

Promoting greener transport, including fuel-efficient cars, is the way to go, he said.

'These are low-hanging fruit that we need to harvest first before looking at road closures and bringing people back to the streets,' he said.

Assistant Professor Paul Barter, a specialist in urban transport policies from the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, suggested going further, by closing parts of the busy North Bridge Road or South Bridge Road to cars.

He said: 'It can make people realise how wonderful some familiar streets can be without traffic.'

Successful car-free events tend to be high-profile, he noted, with huge participation from the public, non-governmental organisations, community groups and the media, as well as high-level support from government.

He said: 'Car-free days can be dramatic events which prompt vigorous debate and shake people out of familiar habits.'

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Mangroves: Protect first, then plant - Malaysian Nature Society

Priscilla Dielenberg The Star 18 Sep 10;

INSTEAD of planting new mangrove saplings in unprotected areas, the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) wants the state to first concentrate on protecting existing mangrove swamps.

One such critical area is the north Seberang Prai coastal belt, spanning about 2km to 2.5km long from Teluk Air Tawar to near Kuala Muda, said MNS Penang branch advisor D. Kanda Kumar.

He said the coastal swamp should be gazetted as a protected area.

“The mangrove trees have been there for a very long time. The size of the swamp varies from only a few strands to about 10m wide at some parts, and more than 100m wide at other parts.

“Natural reclamation and erosion have also occurred at certain places, and some of the trees have also been cut,” he said.

Kanda Kumar said the coastal mangrove was quite rich in terms of animal biodiversity, especially during the migrant bird season between September and March.

“At least four species of globally threatened migrant birds can be found there — the Asian Dowitcher, Chinese Egret, Nordmann’s Green-shank and Lesser Adjutant.

“It also has slightly more than 1% of the global population of Chinese Pond Herons, and 1% of the world population of Common Redshank,” he said.

He added that the coastal swamp in north Seberang Prai was globally recognised as an important bird area by Birdlife International and classified as an important wetlands area by Wetlands International.

He also said there were other mammals not commonly seen in Penang at the coastal swamp, such as mongooses and otters.

Kanda Kumar was speaking in light of the felling of six young mangrove trees of about 2m tall near the Gurney Drive roundabout, said to have been planted by the state on Aug 31.

He had said that it was a waste of time and money to plant the trees at Gurney Drive if it was not gazetted as a protected area.

Kanda Kumar said that in Penang, there were two known large protected mangrove forests — at the southern part of the National Park near the Pantai Acheh Village on the island and at the Byram forest reserve near the Pulau Burung landfill on the mainland.

He said: “Unprotected mangrove areas included the Gurney Drive, Tanjong Tokong and Bayan Bay areas, and there used to be other protected mangrove areas in Balik Pulau that had since been de-gazetted for aquaculture.”

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Hectares of peat land in Riau on fire

Antara 18 Sep 10;

Rokan Hilir, Riau province (ANTARA News) - Tens of hectares of peat land in Rokan Hilir district were on fire again on Friday after they were ablaze last week, a source said.

"The cause of the fire is still unknown," Surya Arfan, head of Rokan Hilir district`s Environmental Impact Supervision Agency (Bapedalda), said here Saturday.

He said a forest fire prevention team was still at the location to extinguish the fire and observe the situation there.

Personnel from the environmenatal supervision agency, the provincial forestry office and PT Chevron Pacific Indonesia (owner of half of the burning land) were trying to extinguish the fire on an area covered by a three-meter-deep peat layer.

"The team will also look out for the possible formation of new hot spots there," he added.
Meanwhile, Rokan Hilir District Chief Annas Ma`mun expressed concern over the incident.

He asked all parties to stay alert to prevent more fires.

Earlier, Marzuki, chief analyst at Pekanbaru`s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), had said the NOAA satellite had detected 58 fire hot spots in Sumatra forests.
"There are at least 58 fire hot spots in Sumatra now. Most of them are located in South

Sumatra and Jambi provinces, namely 20 in each of them, and eight in Jambi province," Marzuki said.

Five of the fire hotspots appeared in Rokan Hilir, one in Bengkalis and two in Pelalawan, he said.

"The fire hot spots have formed due to the hot weather, with the temperature reaching 34.3 degrees Celsius in Riau," he added.

Marzuki predicted more fire hot spots would form in the days ahead due to the low precipitation. In Riau there was still some rainfall but when and where it would happen was hard to predict.(*)

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Four new species of whip-spiders discovered in Indonesia

Antara 16 Sep 10;

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) has discovered four new species of whip-spiders or tailless whip-scorpions (Amblypygi) in Sangkulirang caves, East Kalimantan, and Central Kalimantan`s Muller mountains.

Photo from LIPI Indonesian Cave Life

The finds were made in cooperation with the Nature Conservancy (TNC) and LIPI`s Bogor Botanical Garden, Cahyo Rahmadi, a zoology researcher of LIPI said here Thursday.

Rahmadi on the occasion was accompanied by Dr. Mark S. Harvey of the Western Australian Museum, and Dr J Kojima of Japan.

The new species are of the Charinidae family, Ambiypygi order, and Arachnida class.
The first find is called Sarax yayukae which is dedicated to Dr Yayuk R Suhardjono for her participation in the expeditions in Muller mountains and Sangkulirang caves.

"Sarax yayukae was found in Tumbang Topus cave, in Murung Raya, Central Kalimantan, Bukit Raya-Bukit Baka national park, West Kalimantan, and Marukan island, across Kinabalu, Sabah Malaysia," he said.

The second species is called Sarax Cavemicola, characterized by small eyes, pale brown color and long legs. The animals are found in Ambu Abung cave at Baai, East Kutai, and in several caves in Warang, Kelai, Berau district, East Kalimantan Province.

The third is Sarax Mardua found in Mardua cave, East Kutai, and the fourth is Sarax Sangkuliranggenesis discovered in three different locations, namely in Tabalar, Pengadaan, and Dana Tebo, East Kalimantan Province.

New spider species found in Indonesia's Kalimantan
XinhuaNet 17 Sep 10;

JAKARTA, Sept. 17 (Xinhua) -- The discovery of four new species of spider in Kalimantan was announced recently, adding to Indonesia's already rich catalog of fauna, local media reported on Friday.

The findings, by Cahyo Rahmadi, a zoology researcher at the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI), and two colleagues, Mark S. Harvey, from the Western Australian Museum, and Jun-ichi Kojima, from Japan's Ibaraki University, were published in Zootaxa, a taxonomy journal.

The four new species of whip spiders, or tailless whip scorpions, known here as kala cemeti, were found in the Sangkulirang caves in East Kalimantan and around Mount Muller in Central Kalimantan. One of the species was named Sarax yayukae, in honor of Yayuk R. Suhardjono, an Indonesian scientist specializing in cave biology who helped the researchers during their work.

Sarax sangkulirangensis was found to be the most widespread of the new species, existing in three regions -- Talabar, Lake Tebo and Pengadan.

Sarax mardua, which was found in Mardua Cave in Pengadan, has a pale-colored body and eyes that are smaller than those of Sarax sangkulirangensis.

The last of the new species, Sarax cavernicola, got its name because it is found only in caves.

It is considered the most unique of the new species because the spine composition on its pincers are all the same length, while other whip spiders have gradually longer spines.

Cahyo warned on Thursday that three of the species endemic to the limestone regions of Sangkulirang were threatened by human activity, including mining and land redevelopment.

See also Pictures: "Bizarre" New Tailless Whip Scorpions Found on National Geographic.

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Sarawak reefs under stress due to environmental and human factors

Ng Ai Fern The Star 19 Sep 10;

KUCHING: The coral reefs near Miri and Similajau are suffering significant coral-bleaching due to environmental and human factors.

This was discovered by a group of eco-minded divers who have been monitoring the area voluntarily for the last two years and reported their findings to Sarawak Forestry Corporation (SFC).

SFC protected areas and biodiversity conservation general manager Wilfred Landong said various measures were recommended to tackle the bleaching but they could not be achieved overnight.

He believed that public awareness was crucial in any conservation effort along with enforcement and rehabilitation.

“Other than global warming, many factors contribute to coral-bleaching. It could be caused by destruction of habitats and pollution, which needs a long-term strategy to minimise the impact. Our conservation strategy is to get the public to assist us, thereby creating more awareness,” he said.

He said that several national parks in Sara­wak, namely Tanjung Datu, Talang-Satang, Similajau and Miri-Sibuti were gazetted for the purpose of marine conservation.

“Despite pressure from the tourism industry, we have no plans at the moment to open the place up for the public, either for scuba diving or other water sports activities,” he stressed.

Landong said this at the inaugural “Malaysia Day Reef Cleaning project” at Talang-Talang Besar Island on Friday. Ten volunteer divers participated in the project carried out by SFC.

Coral reefs in Sarawak can be found in patches from Tanjung Datu in the south to as far north as the Lucornia shoals.

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Scientists watching Virgin Islands coral bleaching

Aldeth Lewin Virgin Islands Daily News 18 Sep 10;

ST. THOMAS — Local scientists are watching the territory’s colorful corals turn white this summer and hoping it is not a repeat performance of the devastating mass-bleaching event of 2005.

“If this were a person, it would be in critical condition,” Jeff Miller, fisheries biologist for the V.I. National Park, said about the territory’s reefs.

In the summer of 2005, an increase in water temperatures led to a massive coral die-off both in the Virgin Islands and around the world. The territory lost 60 percent of its coral colonies to bleaching and disease.

When colorful, living, coral polyps become stressed by high water temperatures, they expel the symbiotic algae that live within it and provide needed food to the coral. Because the algae is the source of the coral’s color, when it leaves, the coral becomes stark white or “bleached.”

While coral can survive the bleaching, it becomes vulnerable to disease and predators.
NOAA’s bleaching outlook

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Coral Reef Watch released their 2010 Coral Bleaching Thermal Stress Outlook this week, and it predicts a high likelihood for coral bleaching this summer — something local scientists can confirm is already happening.

NOAA uses satellites to take readings of sea surface temperatures from points across the globe, including the Virgin Islands, and computer models are run to project the effects of those temperature readings.

NOAA’s V.I. temperature sensor is located at Salt River on St. Croix.

“The region at greatest risk fills the region east from Nicaragua past the island of Hispaniola to Puerto Rico and the Lesser Antilles, and south along the Caribbean coasts of Panama and South America. The intensity of the potential thermal stress is predicted to increase through October,” the report states.

According to NOAA, the Caribbean typically experiences higher water temperatures during the second year of an El Niño event. The 2009-2010 El Niño ended in May.

Mark Eakin, NOAA Coral Reef Watch coordinator, said temperatures in the Caribbean have been above normal since January. The models are showing similar trends to those recorded in 2005, he said.

“Things are looking very bad for the Caribbean in 2010,” he said in a written statement. “I am not saying that this year will be worse than 2005, but it looks like it could be a bad year.”
Water temperatures

Miller said that from October 2009 until the end of August, the water temperatures have been at or above normal.

“The water temperatures have been warm for almost a year,” he said. “The corals have been stressed; they haven’t had their usual environment, as far as water temperatures go.”

Tyler Smith, assistant professor at the University of the Virgin Islands Center for Marine and Environmental Studies, said UVI takes readings from 40 locations at reef level, unlike NOAA’s satellite sensor, which takes a surface temperature from only one location.

Corals have a range of temperatures in which they can survive. Every year at this time, corals reach the upper limit of their thermal tolerance. However, global warming is causing the water temperatures to stay in the high end of the corals’ threshold all year round.

Smith said water temperatures in the territory seem to be hovering around 86 degrees. NOAA defines the bleaching threshold for the Virgin Islands at 85.1 degrees.

Without a strong event to force the cooling of the water, sea surface temperatures will remain as warm or warmer for another four to six weeks, Smith said.

“If they stay at the stressful levels, we’re going to see mass bleaching; if we get some cooler temperatures, they could recover,” Smith said.
Starting to bleach

Scientists across the territory already are seeing signs of bleaching.

“A third to a half are experiencing some level of paling, very few corals are 100 percent bleached, which means stark white,” Smith said.

While he is seeing more bleaching every day, there does not yet seem to be a mass die-off like there was in 2005.

“I’ve seen a few dying corals and some coral mortality, but very few, like maybe 1 percent,” Smith said.

Marcia Taylor, marine advisor with the UVI Center for Marine and Environmental Studies, said she has seen bleaching on St. Croix.

“There are corals that are starting to bleach,” Taylor said. “I get in the water and swim pretty much every day, and I’m seeing it.”

Miller said he has not seen outright bleached coral on St. John, but he has seen paling of many corals, which is the beginning of a bleaching event.
Hurricane help

While Virgin Islanders may pray for hurricanes to skip the territory, a storm may be the only thing to prevent a mass-bleaching event.

Before Hurricane Earl passed through Aug. 30, some water temperatures had reached 87 degrees, Smith said.

Typically, hurricanes churn up the water column, mixing the cooler water below with the hotter water on the surface.

Immediately after Earl passed, water temperatures at reef level dropped three to four degrees, Miller said. While temperatures bounced back a few days later, the storm may have prevented the water from heating up far beyond the coral’s threshold.

“I’m not saying the hurricane was a good thing, but it did help to lower the water temperature a little bit, and that was good for the reefs,” Miller said.
Further study

While two mass-bleaching events within the same decade likely would be devastating to the territory’s reefs, the truth is that scientists do not really know how the reef will react or recover. They do not know how the corals that survived the 2005 bleaching event might fare in another one or how those that were bleached but recovered might survive during a second event.

“The corals may actually do better, but scientists are still not sure about the level of acclamation or adaptation that we can expect,” Smith said.

Kemit-Amon Lewis, coral conservation manager at The Nature Conservancy, is working on a project to study coral’s adaptive capabilities. He is spearheading the V.I. Reef Resiliency Plan, which was crafted in conjunction with NOAA.

He said the goal is to see whether there are some areas in the territory that may be less susceptible to bleaching. Those areas may be more important ecologically, he said.

“It may be physical factors, may be biological factors, we really won’t know until we start looking,” Lewis said.

Lewis said the other objective is to develop a plan to respond to coral damage from vessel groundings, anchors, storms and chemical and oil spills.

“We are trying to approach coral reef conservation in a more holistic way,” he said.

To help in the effort, Lewis is seeking public input. He said divers and snorkelers can take photos of bleaching or dying coral and send it to him or call to report a sighting. Lewis can be contacted at 718-5575 or e-mailed at klewis@ntc.org.

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Coral bleaching threat in Florida is minimal: experts

Kevin Wadlow KeysNet.com 18 Sep 10;

High ocean temperatures have raised the chances of severe coral bleaching in the southern Caribbean but the Florida Keys may escape significant damage, according to a monitoring program.

"For us, it seems to be shaping up as a fairly common year," said Cory Walter, a Mote Marine Laboratory biologist who coordinates the local BleachWatch program. "We're getting reports of some bleaching on the inshore patch reefs, but that's relatively common at this time of year."

Water temperatures "seem to be leveling out" around 86 degrees, near the worrisome point that could cause a surge in bleaching. "Hopefully, the wind and rain will help chill the water," Walter said.

In a Friday report, she noted, "Most of the Florida Keys region is presently experiencing minimal thermal stress."

Observations from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration "shows that sea surface temperatures continue to be only slightly elevated for this time of year in the Florida Keys."

Other areas of the southeast Caribbean and the western Gulf of Mexico, however, have experienced "significant bleaching thermal stress," or high temperatures capable of causing coral bleaching, according to a report from NOAA Coral Reef Watch coordinated C. Mark Eakin.

Satellite "monitoring shows that thermal stress levels capable of causing bleaching have continued to develop in the southeastern Caribbean since July, bearing a similar signature to the thermal stress observed at the same time period in 2005, the year of a record mass coral bleaching event," Eakin reported.

Bleaching occurs when high temperatures cause corals to expel algae that live in a symbiotic relationship with the coral. Bleaching can weaken coral and render them more susceptible to disease. Some corals recover from bleaching, but not all.

Hurricane Earl actually helped alleviate some warming threat to Florida, Eakin said.

"Hurricane Earl left a clear track of cooler water ... including reports of cool water at depth in the U.S. Virgin Islands," he said. "Other weather disturbances have cooled temperatures from Texas to the Virgin Islands. Mixing and cooling from a hurricane can reduce thermal stress to a reef and prevent severe bleaching."

Keys divers can submit reports and photos of bleaching events to BleachWatch. Go to www.mote.org.

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