Best of our wild blogs: 7 May 19

25 May (Sat) - Free guided walk at Pasir Ris Mangroves
Adventures with the Naked Hermit Crabs

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PUB's Johor River Waterworks temporarily shut down in 7 pollution incidents since 2017: Masagos

Channel NewsAsia 6 May 19;

SINGAPORE: There have been seven pollution incidents along the Johor River since 2017 that caused PUB's Johor River Waterworks to be temporarily shut down, said Minister for the Environment and Water Resources Masagos Zulkifli on Monday (May 6).

Mr Masagos said this in a written response to parliamentary questions by Member of Parliament Seah Kian Peng on the impact that prolonged stoppage of the water treatment plant's operations had on Singapore, as well as Singapore's obligations to provide treated water to Johor under such a scenario.

"PUB will shut down its Johor River Waterworks when the Johor River is affected by pollution upstream of our waterworks," said Mr Masagos.

"Johor also has water treatment plants along the Johor River, upstream of the Johor River Waterworks, and will shut down the plants when pollution occurs upstream of them."

The seven pollution incidents were traced to illegal discharge from places like palm oil mills and chicken farms within the catchment area. So far there have been two pollution incidents in 2019, both involving high ammonia levels in the Johor River.

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Indonesia: Endangered Green and Hawksbill Turtles Released Back Into the Sea

NUR YASMIN Jakarta Globe 6 May 19;

Jakarta. Thirty endangered sea turtles that were discovered when they were about to be smuggled out of Indonesia were released back into their natural habitat in Riau's Natuna Sea on Sunday, the Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Ministry announced in a statement.

The turtles were seized from their smugglers by Polair Kepri (Riau Water Police), the ministry said.

Maritime Affairs and Fisheries Minister Susi Pudjiastuti and high-ranking officials from her ministry, including acting director general of maritime and fisheries resource monitoring Agus Suherman, and Riau government officials attended the official ceremony to release the endangered turtles back into the sea on Sunday.

"The 25 green turtles and five Hawksbill turtles were discovered in Batam by Riau Water Police," Agus said in the statement,

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