Best of our wild blogs: 30 May 14

Coral bleaching at Sultan Shoal (Jun 2014)
from Bleach Watch Singapore

Creeping Out Despite Warm Waters
from Hantu Blog

50m net with 40 crabs at Changi (29 May 2014)
from Project Driftnet Singapore

Changi with colourful slugs
from wild shores of singapore

Politicians must speak up on environment issues: NMP Faizah Jamal
from Love our MacRitchie Forest

Singapore: companies must accept responsibility in addressing haze crisis
from Mongabay.com news by Rhett Butler

Job Openings in Tropical Marine Science Institute
from News from Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum, Singapore

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Wide-ranging plans ready to cope with haze

Feng Zengkun The Straits Times AsiaOne 29 May 14;

Singapore is prepared if the haze returns as feared in the next few months. Plans are in place at schools and health-care institutions, government agencies said in a joint reply to queries from The Straits Times.

The Inter-Agency Haze Task Force comprising 23 government agencies is also on alert.

After last year's chaos, when many people had difficulty obtaining N95 masks, the Government has stockpiled 16 million in case of shortages.

The Ministry of Health has also placed masks with distributors and the People's Association.

The Haze Subsidy Scheme to cap medical fees at $10 for haze-related conditions will be reinstated if necessary. It was introduced last year for vulnerable Singaporeans such as the elderly who visit participating polyclinics and general practitioners.

The Health Ministry has worked out "contingency plans... which aim to maintain patient safety, meet increased health- care demand and minimise disruption to medical services".

To protect students, schools will modify lessons as needed if the air becomes "very unhealthy".

The Ministry of Education will consider closing all primary and secondary schools to students if the air is expected to be "hazardous" the next day. Parents will be informed by telephone or SMS if schools are closed.

Kindergartens and childcare centres will follow suit.

Junior colleges, centralised institutes and other schools are also monitoring the haze situation. If necessary, outdoor activities will be postponed, cancelled or replaced with indoor activities.

Meanwhile, the Workplace Safety and Health Council and Singapore Contractors Association have reminded employers to follow Ministry of Manpower guidelines during the haze.

These include different protective measures for healthy workers, elderly and pregnant employees and those with chronic lung disease or heart ailments.

Guidelines include having rest breaks indoors when the 24-hour Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) is in the "unhealthy" range.

However, "there is no pre-determined level at which all work would have to be stopped", said the government agencies' joint reply. "Essential services would still continue, although appropriate adjustments would be necessary."

Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Vivian Balakrishnan has warned several times that this year's haze could be even worse than last year's record pollution, when the three-hour PSI hit a hazardous 401 on June 21.

From June to October, some Indonesian farmers take advantage of the dry season to clear land illegally by setting fire to it, a practice blamed for the haze here.

Some scientists also expect the El Nino weather phenomenon, linked to droughts in South-east Asia, to worsen the fire risk.

Bank employee Harry Hay, 31, recently bought an air purifier and he and his wife have also stocked face masks. "We've put the air purifier in our infant son's room," he said. "Even if the haze doesn't come back, it's better to be safe."

Clear air expected in Singapore this week

Singapore appears to be safe from the haze this week, though the risk is set to worsen in the coming months.

Fewer than 30 hot spots have been recorded in Sumatra, Indonesia, at any time in the past two weeks, according to figures from the Meteorological Service Singapore, though the low count could have been partly due to cloud cover and partial satellite coverage. The service has warned, however, that increased hot spot activities are expected, which could lead to transboundary haze.

Climate scientists have also warned that the El Nino weather phenomenon, linked to droughts in South-east Asia, could increase the risk of fires and haze later this year.

Assistant Professor Winston Chow of the National University of Singapore's Department of Geography said south-west monsoon winds expected from June to August may also blow smoke and particulate matter from fires in Sumatra towards Singapore.

From mid-September to early November, however, variable wind directions could transport the brunt of the haze away from the Republic.

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Oil spill incidents caused by human error and poor judgment: MPA

Channel NewsAsia 29 May 14;

SINGAPORE: The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) announced on Thursday (May 29) that human error and poor judgement were the main causes of three collisions which resulted in oil spills in the Republic's port waters and the Singapore Strait early this year.

In addition, MPA says there was lack of situational awareness on the part of the bridge teams of the vessels, including the pilots. This is despite MPA's Port Operations Control Centre giving them advisories and warnings of the traffic situation.

MPA found that the bridge teams did not make use of things like the Automatic Identification System (AIS) or Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) to avoid the collisions. Disciplinary action will be taken against members of the bridge teams.

In the wake of these incidents, a Safety Review Committee was formed to review the overall system of navigational safety in the waters. The panel included experts from the MPA, the Ministry of Transport, local academics, and representatives from the shipping industry.

The committee found no significant increase in the number of incidents in Singapore's waters between 2007 and 2013. Over the last few years, the number of incidents averaged between 0.012 and 0.016 per 1,000 vessel movements in port waters and the Singapore Strait respectively.

Still, to further enhance navigational safety, the committee recommended that a stronger culture of safety awareness be instilled. It also called for enhancement of communication and information sharing between pilots and ship masters, and for more active advisories to be provided to vessels navigating high-risk areas.

MPA will form two working groups to implement the measures, and will soon launch a safety campaign with the shipping community.

Said MPA Chief Executive, Mr Andrew Tan: “MPA places a strong emphasis on the safety of navigation and takes a serious view of any incidents in Singapore waters. Moving forward, we will work more closely with all our industry partners to review our safety management procedures and implement additional measures to enhance navigational safety. We will also not hesitate to take appropriate actions against those who infringe our safety regulations.”

- CNA/xk

Shipping collisions earlier this year due to human error and poor judgement
AsiaOne 29 May 14;

Capt M Segar, Assistant Chief Executive (Operations) MPA, speaking to the shipping community at the dialogue session

SINGAPORE - Human error and poor judgement of the situation were the main causes of the three collision incidents that resulted in oil spills which took place in the Singapore port waters and Singapore Strait earlier this year.

Following the three incidents, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) conducted investigations to determine the causes of these incidents.

The three collisions were between Fei He, a China-flagged containership, and Lime Galaxy, a Hong Kong-flagged chemical tanker on Jan 24, 2014, between NYK Themis, a Panama-flagged containership and a barge, AZ Fuzhou that was towed by tug "AZ Carnation" on Jan 30, and between a Liberia-flagged containership Hammonia Thracium and Panama-flagged chemical tanker Zoey on Feb 10.

MPA has also formed a Safety Review Committee (SRC) to review the overall system of navigational safety in Singapore's port waters and Singapore Strait. Members comprise experts from MPA, Ministry of Transport, the local academia and shipping industry.

Key findings

The findings of the investigations showed that human error and poor judgement of the situation was the main cause of the three collisions. There was lack of situational awareness of the bridge teams, including the pilots, although MPA's Port Operations Control Centre (POCC) had provided advisories and warnings of the traffic situation to the bridge teams.

The bridge teams also did not make use of all available means at their disposal, such as the Automatic Identification System (AIS), Automatic Radar Plotting Aid (ARPA), Radar, and Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) to avoid the collisions.

Appropriate disciplinary actions will be taken against the members of the bridge teams, including the pilots, for contravening the relevant regulations.

The SRC also reviewed the overall regime of navigational safety in Singapore's port limits.

The SRC found no significant increase in the number of incidents between 2007 and 2013, nor was there apparent correlation in the occurrence of incidents and growth in vessel movements in the Singapore Strait or port waters. The number of incidents over the last few years remained low and averaged about 0.012 and 0.016 per 1,000 vessel movements in the port waters and Singapore Strait respectively. The existing systems and procedures put in place by MPA have helped to keep the incident rates low.

Key follow-ups

The SRC has recommended adopting the following key measures to further enhance the safety of navigation in the port and in the Singapore Strait:

- Instilling a strong safety culture

MPA should work with the industry to develop an integrated safety management framework to drive the overall efforts to promote a strong culture of safety awareness, including the conduct of regular safety briefings to the shipping community.

- Enhancing communication and information sharing

PSA Marine should enhance the information sharing between pilots and ship masters, including the timely dissemination of passage plan to the ships. There should also be procedures for its pilots to follow when communications failure occurs between the pilots on converging ships, or between the Vessel Traffic Information System (VTIS) and their ships.

- Improving safe passage in high risk areas

MPA's VTIS should consider providing more active advisories to vessels navigating at high traffic density areas in the port of Singapore and in the Singapore Strait. MPA should also work with the shipping community to ensure ship masters are present on the bridge when their ships are transiting critical areas in the Singapore Strait.

To implement the measures and ensure efforts are sustained, MPA will form two working groups - the MPA-PSA Marine Safety of Navigation Working Group and the MPA-SSA (Singapore Shipping Association) Safety of Navigation Working Group.

MPA will also be launching a Safety Campaign with the shipping community to raise the level of awareness on navigational safety. It will also review and improve navigational safety in critical areas such as key fairways and pilot boarding grounds.

Shipping community briefed at the Navigational Safety Dialogue Session

MPA organised a dialogue session this morning with the shipping community to update them on the investigation findings of the incidents, and measures to enhance the safety of navigation in the Singapore Strait and Singapore's port waters. More than 150 representatives from the shipping community attended the dialogue session, including shipowners, ship managers, ship charterers and shipping agents, who have direct channels to convey the safety messages to the ship masters and officers.

MPA Chief Executive, Mr Andrew Tan said, "MPA places a strong emphasis on the safety of navigation and takes a serious view of any incidents in Singapore waters. Moving forward, we will work more closely with all our industry partners to review our safety management procedures and implement additional measures to enhance navigational safety. We will also not hesitate to take appropriate actions against those who infringe our safety regulations."

Mr Patrick Phoon, Chairman of the Safe Navigation and Environment Committee of the Asian Shipowners' Forum and President of the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) said, "We welcome the efforts taken by MPA and the Safety Review Committee to look at the causes to these incidents holistically. The SSA will work closely with MPA to implement the recommendations from the Safety Review Committee to enhance navigational safety within our port waters and the Singapore Strait."

Outcome of Investigation Findings into Marine Incidents and Measures to Enhance Safety of Navigation in Singapore Port Waters and Singapore Strait
MPA Media Release 29 May 14;

Following the three collision incidents[1] resulting in oil spills which took place in the Singapore port waters and Singapore Strait early this year, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) conducted investigations to determine the causes of the incidents. MPA also formed a Safety Review Committee (SRC) to review the overall system of navigational safety in Singapore's port waters and Singapore Strait. Members comprised experts from MPA, Ministry of Transport, the local academia and shipping industry.

Key Findings

The findings of the investigations showed that human error and poor judgement of the situation was the main cause of the three collisions. There was lack of situational awareness of the bridge teams, including the pilots, although MPA's Port Operations Control Centre (POCC) had provided advisories and warnings of the traffic situation to the bridge teams. The bridge teams also did not make use of all available means at their disposal, such as the Automatic Identification System (AIS), Automatic Radar Plotting Aid (ARPA), Radar, and Electronic Chart Display and Information System (ECDIS) to avoid the collisions. Appropriate disciplinary actions will be taken against the members of the bridge teams, including the pilots, for contravening the relevant regulations.

The SRC also reviewed the overall regime of navigational safety in Singapore's port limits. The SRC found no significant increase in the number of incidents between 2007 and 2013, nor was there apparent correlation in the occurrence of incidents and growth in vessel movements in the Singapore Strait or port waters. The number of incidents over the last few years remained low and averaged about 0.012 and 0.016 per 1,000 vessel movements in the port waters and Singapore Strait respectively. The existing systems and procedures put in place by MPA have helped to keep the incident rates low.


Key Follow Ups

Notwithstanding, the SRC recommended adopting the following key measures to further enhance the safety of navigation in the port and in the Singapore Strait:

i. Instilling a strong safety culture

MPA should work with the industry to develop an integrated safety management framework to drive the overall efforts to promote a strong culture of safety awareness, including the conduct of regular safety briefings to the shipping community.

ii. Enhancing communication and information sharing

PSA Marine should enhance the information sharing between pilots and ship masters, including the timely dissemination of passage plan to the ships. There should also be procedures for its pilots to follow when communications failure occurs between the pilots on converging ships, or between the Vessel Traffic Information System (VTIS) and their ships.

iii. Improving safe passage in high risk areas

MPA's VTIS should consider providing more active advisories to vessels navigating at high traffic density areas in the port of Singapore and in the Singapore Strait. MPA should also work with the shipping community to ensure ship masters are present on the bridge when their ships are transiting critical areas in the Singapore Strait.

To implement the above measures and ensure efforts are sustained, MPA will form two working groups:

i.The MPA-PSA Marine Safety of Navigation Working Group.
ii.The MPA-SSA (Singapore Shipping Association) Safety of Navigation Working Group.

MPA will also be shortly launching a Safety Campaign with the shipping community to raise the level of awareness on navigational safety. It will also review and improve navigational safety in critical areas such as key fairways and pilot boarding grounds.

Shipping Community Briefed at the Navigational Safety Dialogue Session

MPA organised a dialogue session this morning with the shipping community to update them on the investigation findings of the incidents, and measures to enhance the safety of navigation in the Singapore Strait and Singapore's port waters. More than 150 representatives from the shipping community attended the dialogue session, including shipowners, ship managers, ship charterers and shipping agents, who have direct channels to convey the safety messages to the ship masters and officers.

MPA Chief Executive, Mr Andrew Tan said, "MPA places a strong emphasis on the safety of navigation and takes a serious view of any incidents in Singapore waters. Moving forward, we will work more closely with all our industry partners to review our safety management procedures and implement additional measures to enhance navigational safety. We will also not hesitate to take appropriate actions against those who infringe our safety regulations."

Mr Patrick Phoon, Chairman of the Safe Navigation and Environment Committee of the Asian Shipowners' Forum and President of the Singapore Shipping Association (SSA) said, "We welcome the efforts taken by MPA and the Safety Review Committee to look at the causes to these incidents holistically. The SSA will work closely with MPA to implement the recommendations from the Safety Review Committee to enhance navigational safety within our port waters and the Singapore Strait."

Read more!

'Vertical' fish farms in Singapore may be a reality soon

Samantha Boh MyPaper AsiaOne 30 May 14;

The water-recycling system is attached to a circular tank, which holds around 8,000 litres of water, and 11 such tanks can fit into 10,000 sq ft of space (an area about the size of 81/2 HDB five-room flats).

You need four walls, a roof and a space several storeys high and voila! you're a fish farmer.

This could become a reality if a water-recycling system gets implemented here, which would remove the need for fish farms to be built at sea or at sea level.

Singapore's land scarcity means it has to get creative about its space constraints and this is where such "vertical fish farms" come in, said John Bahng, director of Ocean Ethix Singapore.

He told My Paper that his company, which markets such a system, is already in talks with two companies and another group of potential investors to bring the technology from Hong Kong to Singapore, possibly as early as this year.

The company is in the midst of drawing up proposals, and aims to approach the Agri-Food & Veterinary Authority (AVA) within the next three months.

Ocean Ethix's water-recycling system is attached to a circular tank, which holds around 8,000 litres of water, and 11 such tanks can fit into 10,000 sq ft of space (an area about the size of 81/2 HDB five-room flats), virtually almost anywhere.

"You basically just need four walls and a roof," said Mr Bahng.

"And with transportation costs being a factor for (fish) importers, this could also reduce the price fluctuations due to changes in fuel prices, for instance."

A facility of this size has already been installed in Hong Kong. It sells about two tonnes of groupers to fish wholesalers each week, getting about $126 per kg.

Here, a typical sea-based fish farm spanning 27,000 sq ft produces between five and seven tonnes of fish a year, said Philip Lim, chairman of the Singapore Marine Aquaculture Cooperative.

Mr Bahng said the system could be the solution to mass fish deaths, much like what happened earlier this year at 34 fish farms here. Then, a plankton bloom and lack of oxygen resulted in a loss of some 160 tonnes of fish.

"Basically, you can take most or all of nature's effects out of the equation - weather, natural disasters, algae, diseases and so on," he said.

According to AVA, there are several land-based fish farms here, which have adopted similar systems. Swee Chioh Fishery uses one at its fish nurseries. The fish are later transferred to open-sea cages.

An AVA spokesman said the agency "encourages local fish farms to adopt such technologies as it allows the fish to be cultured in a more controlled environment".

AVA began a push in 2011 to make local supplies account for 15 per cent of total fish consumed here, but the figure is currently just 7 per cent.

Malcolm Ong, chief executive of The Fish Farmer, said that he welcomed any technology that could help optimise land use and also minimise the risk of disease, but was mindful of the costs involved.

Referring to the use of water-recycling systems, he said: "Definitely the cost of energy would be higher than in the sea, because the system would have to circulate and pump water 24/7. Hopefully, these (costs) can be offset by productivity gains."

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Indonesian authorities stepping up preventive measures against haze

Devianti Faridz Channel NewsAsia 28 May 14;

PEKANBARU, Riau: As the dry season returns to plantation areas across Indonesia, the possibility of choking haze in the region is growing.

And local governments are taking steps to try and stop the fires once and for all.

In Riau province, where temperatures are rising, people are bracing for a comeback of the haze.

This area was the hardest hit in recent plantation and forest fires; and over the past decade, it has usually been during this time of the year when hot spots are normally detected.

When they are detected, and the wind direction shifts, the haze will eventually spread overseas.

"Whether there's a fire or not, the wind direction will still move from the southwest to northeast towards Singapore," said Sugarin, Station Head, Pekanbaru Meteorology and Geophsyics Agency. "If land is being burnt, then the wind will blow the haze towards neighbouring countries such as Singapore and Malaysia."

An emergency alert status for the province has been in force since April.

Authorities have begun raising awareness of illegal land clearing in 12 municipalities and ordered wells and water holes be established in fire prone areas.

"If a fire is found, the community can be the ones to first respond to it," said Riau's Governor, Annas Maamun. "They can work together to put out the fires while they are still small."

Plans are also underway to involve 4,000 students from local universities to spend a part of their senior year on community service directed at combating fires.

Five equipped fire monitors from each village will also be trained to help extinguish the blazes and report to the local government.

"If there is a plantation fire lit up by irresponsible people, these monitors will report it to us directly," said Said Saqlul Amri, Chief Executive, Regional Disaster Mitigation Agency. "Further, there will also be three designated personnel on stand-by at each district office."

In hopes of better handling future forest and plantation fires, the Riau Governor has proposed increasing the regional budget for disaster management by four times, to as much as US$3.5 million.

While the budget awaits legislators' approval, the local government has more than US$800,000 ready for use in tackling the first signs of plantation fires.

- CNA/rw

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Indonesia to Start Work on World’s Biggest Geothermal Plant in June

Fathiyah Dahrul and Fergus Jensen Jakarta Globe 29 May 14;

Jakarta. Indonesia will begin construction next month of its long-delayed $1.6-billion Sarulla project, the world’s biggest geothermal power plant, the country’s chief economic minister said on Wednesday.

Southeast Asia’s largest economy, home to the world’s largest geothermal resources, is racing to meet power demand growth of more than 7 percent a year, with plans to add 60 gigawatts of capacity to its existing grid by 2022.

But the sector has struggled to attract investment because of complex regulations and difficulties securing project finance. A government plan to derive 12 percent of the country’s energy mix from geothermal power by 2025 seems unrealistic.

“The Sarulla groundbreaking will be very soon,” Coordinating Economic Minister Chairul Tanjung told reporters, adding that the project had reached financial closing and the government expected construction to begin next month.

He declined to give further details.

The project was originally initiated in 1990 but ground to a halt during the Asian financial crisis in 1997. Its first phase is expected to begin operation in 2016, with the next two phases to follow within 18 months of the first phase.

The 330-MW Sarulla project is envisioned to provide clean power to an Indonesian grid dominated by fossil-fuel energy. Sarulla is expected to reduce 1.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions a year when completed in 2018.

The financing of the project has been heralded as a breakthrough for Indonesia’s largely undeveloped 29 gigawatts of geothermal potential.

The banks involved in the financing are the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB) along with Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd, ING Bank NV (a unit of ING Groep NV ), Societe Generale, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corportation, Mizuho Bank Ltd and National Australia Bank.

The project is sponsored by Itochu Corporation (25 percent), Kyushu Electric Power Company (25 percent), Medco Power Indonesia (37.5 percent), a unit of Medco Energi Internasional and Ormat International, a unit of Ormat Technologies (12.5 percent).

The Sarulla plant’s recent financial close makes it Indonesia’s first geothermal project to gain financing since Star Energy’s 227-MW Wayang Windu plant commenced in 1997.

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