Cold water devastates coral reefs off Japan

Laurence CHU AFP Yahoo News 18 Apr 18;

Unusually cold water has devastated some of the world's most northerly coral reefs, which lie off the coast of western Japan, an environment ministry official said Wednesday.

The ministry surveyed the reefs in recent months and found widespread bleaching, with between 90 to 100 percent of each of the six spots surveyed affected.

In four of the surveyed areas, researchers have reported between 85 percent and 95 percent of the bleached areas were now dead, said Yuto Takahashi, a ranger at the regional ministry office that conducted the survey.

The devastation is thought to be the result of unusually cold water temperatures in the area this year, partly produced by the meandering of the Kuroshio current, he told AFP.

"Very strong cold fronts of the winter contributed to the low water temperature," he said.

"The meandering of the Kuroshio current is also known to have lowered water temperatures" off Wakayama and other areas along the Pacific coast, he added.

The Kuroshio is a warm current in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, and its unusual movement away from the area brought up cold water from the depths.

Little is known about exactly why the Kuroshio current changes its flows, but scientists have observed the meandering phenomenon six times since 1965, most recently last summer.

The phenomenon results in lower water temperatures, changes the locations of fishing grounds and even affects ship navigation, according to the Japan Meteorological Agency.

Coral bleaching and death is irreversible, but differs from similar events seen in other more southerly reefs.

"This is different from coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef or Okinawa, which is caused by unusual warming of water temperatures," Takahashi said.

"Water in our region is cold, which makes the corals very vulnerable."

Ironically, the warming water that is bleaching corals further south could create a more stable environment for corals in northern areas.

Campaigners have warned that environmental changes including warming water and pollution are causing significant bleaching of corals around the world.

Corals make up less than one percent of Earth's marine environment, but are home to more than 25 percent of marine life.

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Best of our wild blogs: 18 Apr 18

Butane gas spill off Life Firing Islands, 17 Apr 2018
wild shores of singapore

Common Goldenback Mating at SBWR
Singapore Bird Group

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Tanker collision off Singapore coast results in butane leak

Channel NewsAsia 17 Apr 18;

SINGAPORE: Two tankers collided off the coast of Singapore on Tuesday (Apr 17), causing a liquefied butane gas leak, said the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).

The collision occurred at 2.30am about one nautical mile south of Tuas Extension in Singapore waters.

The Singapore-registered LPG tanker, Crystal Sunrise, was picking up its pilot near the designated western pilot boarding ground when it collided with the westbound Greece-registered tanker Astro Saturn.

The collision damaged the Crystal Sunrise’s ballast tank, causing its butane cargo to start leaking from one of the cargo tanks, while the Astro Saturn sustained damage to its port anchor and bow.

Though an estimated 1,796 metric tonnes of butane gas had leaked, MPA said any leaked butane, which has a high evaporation rate, would have been carried southward away from mainland Singapore, where most of it would have rapidly dissipated to below flammable levels within an hour and pose no risk to shipping.

No injuries have been reported, but eight PSA Marine staff who were in the vicinity of the collision have received medical check-ups at the National University Hospital, and all of the crew have since been discharged.

MPA is investigating the incident.

The Straits of Singapore and Malacca are one of the world’s busiest sea lanes and has seen some high-profile incidents recently such as US Navy ship John S McCain colliding with an oil tanker resulting in the deaths of 10 US sailors last August.

In September last year, five crew members died after a dredger and a tanker collided in Singapore waters.

On Monday, the Agency for Science, Technology and Research's (A*STAR) Institute of High Performance Computing, Singapore Management University (SMU) and Fujitsu announced that they are in the process of developing predictive tech to prevent ship collisions.

Source: CNA/ec(hm)


Singapore-registered LPG tanker in collision off Tuas; no injuries reported
Today Online 17 Apr 18;

SINGAPORE — A Singapore-registered Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) tanker was involved in a collision with a Greece-registered tanker off the Tuas Extension early Tuesday morning (April 17), the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said.

In a media release sent late on Tuesday night, the MPA said the Singapore-registered vessel, Crystal Sunrise, was picking up her pilot near the designated western pilot boarding ground at about 2.30am when it collided with a westbound Greece-registered tanker, Astro Saturn.

The collision took place about one nautical mile south of Tuas Extension, in Singapore waters.

"Following the collision, Crystal Sunrise sustained damage to her ballast tank... (and) the butane that (the) vessel was carrying had started to leak from one of the cargo tanks," said the MPA.

"The ship’s crew took the necessary measures and stopped the leak."

Astro Saturn sustained damages to her port anchor and bow. Both ships have been stablised, the MPA added.

No injuries were reported, but the collision saw an estimated 1,796MT of butane gas leaked from Crystal Sunrise.

"As liquefied butane has a high evaporation rate, MPA has assessed that any leaked butane would have been carried southward away from mainland Singapore, where most of it would have rapidly dissipated to below flammable levels within an hour and pose no risk to shipping," said the MPA.

As a precautionary measure, eight PSA Marine staff who were in the vicinity of the collision received medical check-ups at the National University Hospital. All of the crew have since been discharged.

MPA said it is investigating the incident.


UPDATE 1-LPG, fuel oil tankers collide off Singapore coast
Reuters 17 Apr 18;

* Collision between tankers leads to butane leak
* Leak poses no danger to shipping
* Both ships have been stabilised
* Ships chartered by Gyxis and Trafigura
* (Adds MPA statement)

By Roslan Khasawneh and Seng Li Peng

SINGAPORE, April 17 (Reuters) - Singapore’s Maritime and Port Authority (MPA) said it is investigating a collision between two tankers in Singapore waters on Tuesday that led to a leak of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) from one of the ships.

An estimated 1,796 tonnes of butane gas leaked from the LPG tanker involved but this posed no danger to shipping and measures had been taken by the ship’s crew to stop the leak, MPA said in a statement.

“As liquefied butane has a high evaporation rate, MPA has assessed that any leaked butane would have been carried southward away from mainland Singapore, where most of it would have rapidly dissipated to below flammable levels within an hour and pose no risk to shipping,” it said.

The collision was between Singapore-registered LPG tanker Crystal Sunrise, chartered by Japanese firm Gyxis, and a westbound Greece-registered tanker, Astro Saturn, chartered by European trading house Trafigura, market and shipping sources said.

“We can confirm that the Astro Saturn is on TC (time charter) to Trafigura and is carrying fuel oil,” a Trafigura spokeswoman said, without elaborating.

According to data from Thomson Reuters Eikon, Crystal Sunrise is a Very Large Gas Carrier (VLGC) with a deadweight tonnage (DWT) of 54,070 tonnes carrying Middle Eastern origin LPG.

Astro Saturn is an Aframax with a DWT of 105,167 tonnes and is anchored at Tanjung Pelepas in Johor, Malaysia, but close to Singapore.

According to MPA, the Crystal Sunrise was picking up her pilot near the designated western pilot boarding ground when the collision took place about one nautical mile south of Tuas Extension.

The vessel sustained damage to her ballast tank in the collision while Astro Saturn sustained damage to her port anchor and bow.

Both ships have been stabilised and no injuries were reported.

But eight staff from PSA Marine, a marine services provider, who were in the vicinity of the collision, were given medical check-ups as a precaution.

All of the crew have since been discharged, MPA said. (Reporting by Roslan Khasawneh and Seng Li Peng; Editing by Adrian Croft)

Collision between LPG tanker CRYSTAL SUNRISE and tanker ASTRO SATURN
MPA Press Release 17 April 2018


At about 2.30am on 17 April 2018, the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) received a report from Singapore-registered LPG tanker, CRYSTAL SUNRISE that she had collided with a westbound Greece-registered tanker, ASTRO SATURN. CRYSTAL SUNRISE was picking up her pilot near the designated western pilot boarding ground when the collision took place about one nautical mile south of Tuas Extension, in Singapore territorial waters.

2. Following the collision, CRYSTAL SUNRISE sustained damage to her ballast tank. The master reported that the butane that vessel was carrying had started to leak from one of the cargo tanks. The ship’s crew took the necessary measures and stopped the leak. ASTRO SATURN sustained damages to her port anchor and bow. Both CRYSTAL SUNRISE and ASTRO SATURN have been stabilised.

3. An estimated 1,796MT of butane gas had leaked. As liquefied butane has a high evaporation rate, MPA has assessed that any leaked butane would have been carried southward away from mainland Singapore, where most of it would have rapidly dissipated to below flammable levels within an hour and pose no risk to shipping.

4. The two tankers reported no injuries to their crew. As a precautionary measure, eight PSA Marine staff who were in the vicinity of the collision received medical check-ups at the National University Hospital. All of the crew have since been discharged.

5. MPA is investigating the incident.

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Singapore and Indonesia researchers uncover at least 12 new species off Java

NEO CHAI CHIN Today Online 17 Apr 18;

SINGAPORE — Scientists from Singapore and Indonesia have found at least 12 species of hermit crabs, prawns, lobsters and crabs that are new to science in the deep sea off western and southern Java.

The South Java Deep Sea Biodiversity Expedition 2018 (SJADES 2018), the first such expedition jointly organised by both countries, also yielded more than 40 species that are new records for Indonesia.

The figures may be the tip of the iceberg as the researchers now go through the 12,000 specimens collected during the 14-day expedition, crab expert Peter Ng told reporters on Tuesday (April 17).

Prof Ng is the chief scientist for the Singapore team and head of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum.

Thirty-one scientists and a 25-member support crew set off on the Indonesian research vessel, Baruna Jaya VIII, on March 23 from Jakarta. They sailed anti-clockwise towards Cilacap in southern Java and back, sampling at depths averaging 800m and up to 2,100m.

Among the new species are a crab with fuzzy spines and blood-red eyes, a lobster with long arms and a zebra-patterned shell, and a hermit crab with green eyes and orange banded pincers.

The largest creatures hauled up include a squid 40cm to 50cm long, purple sea cucumbers weighing about 1kg each and a tulip sponge about 1m long that anchors itself to the ground with glass threads. The smallest creatures include worms and a type of crustacean called copepods that are 1mm to 2mm in size, or tinier.

The scientists faced stormy weather at the start due to the tail-end of a cyclone, and about half of them were sea-sick on the first day. But the terrain posed a far greater challenge. “Getting used to the seasickness was quite easy; getting used to the terrain was very difficult. Sampling was very difficult,” said Prof Ng.

The depths and terrain given on maps were wrong, resulting in nets being ripped when they were sent down. Out of eight trawl nets which the team took along, seven were ripped and nights were spent repairing some of the nets.

Other equipment included dredges (which are made of steel), box corers and multi-corers to collect samples from mud and soil, as well as preservatives. The equipment weighed 4.5 tonnes, while fuel accounted for 98 tonnes of the vessel’s load.

The expedition proved valuable, especially for the younger scientists with little deep-sea experience.

Deep-sea expeditions have traditionally been organised by the French, Americans, Australians, and English. Prof Ng said being tasked with the primary responsibility this time round was important. For instance, it was a “learning curve” each time the team threw down the multi-corer. “You know what to do in theory… but it’s not so easy, when the waves are 3m high, to know when it hits the bottom,” he said.

An interesting deep-sea creature found was the Bat fish, which ‘walks’ on the bottom of the ocean. Photo: SJADES 2018

Some expedition members are also involved in studies of an area 80 times the size of Singapore in the Pacific Ocean. Ocean Mineral Singapore, a unit of Keppel Corporation, signed a 15-year contract with the International Seabed Authority in 2015 to explore how metal-rich rocks could be harvested and is working with the Keppel-National University of Singapore (NUS) Corporate Laboratory to conduct environmental studies and surveys for the metal deposits.

“(SJADES 2018) will be useful for our next trip in the Pacific. We’ve been there once and hope to do it again (next year),” said NUS Tropical Marine Science Institute’s Mr Lim Swee Cheng, who studies sponges.

The scientists’ haul from the deep featured an unwelcome component: Marine trash in the form of plastic bags, snack wrappers, coffee sachets, toothpaste tubes and even clothes.

Out of 63 stations where samples were collected, only five or six were without rubbish, said hermit crab expert and the Indonesian team’s chief scientist Dwi Listyo Rahayu.

“Yes, we found somebody’s underpants at (a depth of) 1,000m,” said Prof Ng. “Deep-sea trash, we’re finding it almost everywhere on the planet, even in the most isolated places in the Pacific or Indian oceans where there are no human beings around… the problem with plastic is, it’s everybody’s problem, so it’s nobody’s problem.”

Marine trash can cause animals to get entangled and has been found in the gut of whales and other creatures.

The scientists will now study the specimens collected from the expedition, and hope to share results and discuss them with others at a workshop in Indonesia in 2020.


More than 12,000 marine creatures uncovered during first-ever exploration of West Java seas
National University of Singapore Phys.org 17 Apr 18;

Despite a stormy start thanks to Cyclone Marcus, scientists who participated in the South Java Deep Sea Biodiversity Expedition 2018 (SJADES 2018) had collected more than 12,000 creatures during their 14-day voyage to survey the unexplored deep seas off the southern coast of West Java, Indonesia.

The expedition team, consisting 31 researchers and support staff, were led by Professor Peter Ng, Head of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum of the National University of Singapore (NUS), and Professor Dwi Listyo Rahayu, Senior Research Scientist at the Research Center for Oceanography (RCO) of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI). The NUS research team comprises scientists from the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum and the Tropical Marine Science Institute.

Some 800 species from over 200 families of sponges, jellyfish, molluscs, starfish, urchins, worms, crabs, prawns and fish were uncovered during the expedition. Over a dozen new species of hermit crabs, prawns, lobsters and crabs were discovered, and over 40 species of various kinds are new records for Indonesia.

Among the deep-sea creatures new to science is a crab that has fuzzy spines and blood-red eyes; a lobster with long arms and zebra-patterned shell; and a hermit crab with green eyes and orange banded pincers. Please refer to the Annex for more details about these creatures, as well as other rare and interesting sea creatures collected by scientists during the trip.

63 stations sampled within a fortnight

The research team departed Muara Baru, Jakarta in Indonesia on 23 March 2018 on board Indonesian research vessel Baruna Jaya VIII. They sailed anti-clockwise towards Cilacap in southern Java and back, covering a total distance of 2,200 kilometres.

"14 days of shared challenges at sea has enabled us to forge strong ties with our Indonesian collaborators, and such links are important to the long-term scientific ties between our two countries," said Prof Ng, chief scientist for the Singapore team. "On the research front, our teams have learnt a lot about how to conduct deep-sea science, handle the various equipment needed for such work, and had the opportunity to sample and examine a multitude of fantastic deep sea animals. We expect to identify more new species among the pickings of the expedition, and we certainly look forward to studying the specimens and data with our Indonesian friends."

Prof Rahayu, chief scientist for the Indonesia team, said, "The Indonesian scientists benefitted both personally and professionally through this expedition, which was partly a capacity-building exercise for our young scientists. Through interacting with international scientists, they were exposed to new scientific techniques and methodologies in an environment that presents a different set of challenges from their own scientific specialities. Hopefully, such knowledge transfer and collaboration would build stronger and more resilient ties among between our two nations."

About the expedition

The South Java Deep-Sea Biodiversity Expedition 2018 is the first concerted deep-sea biological exploration conducted by Singapore and Indonesia, to study deep-sea marine life in the largely unexplored part of the waters off the southern coast of West Java.

This unprecedented project is a reflection of the bold and collaborative spirit embodied in RISING50 - a celebration of 50 years of diplomatic relations between Singapore and Indonesia. This joint initiative reaffirms the depth and diversity of the long-standing collaboration between the academic and scientific communities of Singapore and Indonesia.

The samples collected will be studied by scientists from both countries. This is anticipated to take up to two years, and the results will be shared and discussed with the world at a special workshop that will be held in Indonesia in 2020. The outputs will then be collated and published in the museum's science-citation journal, The Raffles Bulletin of Zoology.

Singapore-Indonesia deep-sea expedition team discovers over a dozen species new to science
Samantha Boh Straits Times 17 Apr 18;

SINGAPORE - Hidden more than 1,000m underwater along the Sunda Strait off the coast of Jakarta is a peculiar spider crab with plates resembling ears that actually protect its eyes.

It had not been seen for some 10 million years, till researchers from Singapore and Indonesia discovered it while trawling the depths of the sea in March.

Researchers believe the 6cm-wide crab, dubbed "Big Ears", is from the Rochinia genus.

More than a dozen new species of crustaceans were discovered on the pioneering expedition into the deep waters off the southern coast of West Java.

In total, some 800 species from more than 200 families of sponges, jellyfish, molluscs, starfish, urchins, worms, crabs, prawns and fish were discovered, accounting for more than 12,000 individual animals.

Professor Peter Ng, head of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum at the National University of Singapore, and Professor Dwi Listyo Rahayu, senior research scientist at the Research Centre for Oceanography of the Indonesian Institute of Sciences, led the 31-member team on the 14-day trawling expedition.

They sailed from Jakarta to the Sunda Strait, and waters off the Indonesian port of Cilacap, in the south-western part of Java.

Using trawls, dredges and other devices capable of capturing creatures even a few millimetres long, the team collected samples from 63 stations, at depths of between 500m and 2,000m under the sea.

Prof Rahayu said trash was a problem. Only five or six stations were able to trawl the sea without picking up rubbish.

But there was treasure in the trash. One of the hermit crabs was found hidden in discarded underwear.

"How rubbish affects the creatures, we still do not know. But ocean plastic is a huge problem," said Prof Ng.

The expedition was not without problems. One of the nets snared something heavy underwater which could have caused the cable to snap.

If that had happened, there was a real chance the flaying cable would have cut someone on board the ship.

But the captain stopped the ship instead of using force to disentangle the net, which Prof Ng said is something to learn for future expeditions.

He said: "On the research front, our teams learnt a lot about how to conduct deep-sea science, handle the various equipment needed for such work, and had the opportunity to sample and examine a multitude of fantastic deep-sea animals."

This yet-to-be-named crab species was found camouflaged with debris, small zoanthid anemones and mud. It has a distinctive plate which resembles over-sized ears adjacent to its red eyes.

The samples will be studied, and the findings will be shared and discussed at a workshop slated to be held in Indonesia in 2020, and later published in The Raffles Bulletin Of Zoology.

Prof Rahayu said the Indonesian scientists were exposed to new scientific techniques and methodologies through interactions with scientists from other nations.

"Hopefully, such knowledge transfer and collaboration would build stronger and more resilient ties between our two nations," she said.

Fuzzy crab, shiny-eyed shrimp discovered on Java expedition
AFP 19 Apr 18;

A hermit crab, a shiny-eyed shrimp and a crab with fuzzy spines are among over a dozen new species discovered in a deep-sea expedition off the Indonesian island of Java, scientists said.

The team from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) carried out the expedition for 14 days between March and early April.

The area covered included a long stretch of the Indian Ocean off Java's southern coast as well as the Sunda Strait that separates the island from Sumatra.

"This is a part of the Indian Ocean that has been never been sampled for deep-sea animals so we really didn't know what to find," said Peter Ng, a crab expert and head of the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum at NUS.

"We were very surprised by the findings," he told AFP on Thursday, adding that the team had expected to discover creatures from the Indian Ocean and the surrounding areas already known to scientists.

But the discovery of species entirely new to science "tells us that there are things happening in that part of Indonesia that we don't know," said Ng, who co-led the expedition.

The researchers examined 63 sites as they sailed from Jakarta to Cilacap town in southern Java and back.

Three new species of spider crabs were discovered during the expedition, the scientists said in a statement.

One of them had a plate protecting its eyes which resembled oversized ears while another was bright orange in colour.

Three new species of spider crabs were discovered during the expedition, the scientists said in a statement
Another discovery was a new species of hermit crab with bright green eyes, according to Indonesian scientist Dwi Listyo Rahayu, also a crab expert and the expedition's co-leader.

One new species of shrimp had shiny eyes that reflect light, the scientists said.

Ng, the NUS professor, said the scientists will carry out a detailed study of the more than 12,000 creatures from 800 species they had picked up on the expedition and publish their findings in 2020.

They expect to discover more new species as they go along, he said.

The reason they immediately identified the new species of crabs, prawns and lobsters is that the scientists involved are experts in this field, he added.

Related links

The Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/lkcnhm/

instagram
https://www.instagram.com/lkcnhm/

Their microsite
https://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/research/sjades2018/

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Philippines to deploy riot police for Boracay tourist closure

AFP Yahoo News 17 Apr 18;

Manila (AFP) - The Philippines is set to deploy hundreds of riot police to top holiday island Boracay to keep travellers out and head off potential protests ahead of its six-month closure to tourists, the government said Tuesday.

President Rodrigo Duterte has branded the tiny central island and its world-famous white-sand beach a "cesspool". He has ordered visitors be kept away from April 26 so facilities to treat raw sewage can be set up and illegal structures torn down.

On Tuesday, authorities laid out a lockdown plan to keep out all foreign and Filipino tourists using more than 600 police, including a 138-member "crowd dispersal unit".

"In any transition, especially for a drastic action such as this, there is always confusion, uncertainties, and low morale," the regional police director, Chief Superintendent Cesar Binag said at a public forum on the island, aired on national television.

"What we did was to identify the sources of confusion, sources of uncertainty and sources of low morale that might result to agitation and eventually into a security issue," he added.

Boracay residents will be obliged to carry new identification cards and will be banned from boating and night swimming, he said.

Entry to the 1,000-hectare (2,470-acre) island, located 300 kilometres (186 miles) south of Manila, will be limited to a single small sea port.

Island residents' new identity cards are expected to be distributed three days before the shutdown, and security forces will conduct a "capability demonstration" next week, Binag said.

Businesses in the area, which previously lobbied for a phased rehabilitation, have warned that an abrupt shutdown could lead to bankruptcies and job losses for many of the island's 17,000 hotel, restaurant and other tourism workers, plus some 11,000 construction workers.

The island drew two million visitors last year, earning the country more than a billion dollars in tourism revenue, according to official data.

The abrupt decision to close Boracay has forced hundreds of hotels, restaurants, tour operators and other businesses to cancel bookings, leaving clients fuming.

The threat of closure first emerged in February when Duterte accused Boracay's businesses of dumping sewage directly into the island's turquoise waters.

"I will close Boracay. Boracay is a cesspool," Duterte said in a speech in his southern home city of Davao.

The Duterte government maintains it is legal for it to deploy police and bar tourists from the island.

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Best of our wild blogs: 17 Apr 18

Seahorses and other odd fishes of Singapore's seagrass meadows
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

Are Singaporeans Too Detached to Care About Plastic Waste?
WWF-Singapore

21 Apr (Sat): Free screening of “A Plastic Ocean” at the Singapore Botanic Gardens
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

Celebrate Earth Day in Singapore by battling marine trash @ Lim Chu Kang East (Sun 22 Apr 2018: 7.30am – 12.00pm)
Otterman speaks

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Rescued giant turtles, endangered tortoises sent home to Malaysia

Channel NewsAsia 16 Apr 18;

SINGAPORE: Four giant Asian turtles and two elongated tortoises, an endangered species, were repatriated to their home country Malaysia on Monday (Apr 16).

It is part of efforts by Singapore's Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) to rehabilitate animals which have been rescued from the illegal wildlife trade.

Last February, the animal welfare group repatriated its first live reptile, an endangered Malaysian giant turtle named Rahayu, to Malaysia.

"Since then, we promised ourselves to do everything we could to give a second chance for Rahayu's friends still residing in our sanctuary," ACRES wrote in a Facebook post.

"It took us another whole year, but today we are finally sending Boltz, Andrea, Audrey, Ayu, Comot and Comel home to Malaysia!"

Of the six reptiles, the story of Boltz the Giant Asian Pond turtle has been most widely shared by ACRES. He was rescued in 2011 after a member of the public saw him being run over by a lorry. The accident left him with severe injuries, including a crack on his shell that looked like a lightning bolt, hence his name.

"I still remember the first night he came, he was all bleeding, he had massive bleeding, his shell was completely fractured, and we didn’t think he will make it. So many other turtles we have rescued with a similar fate didn’t make it," said ACRES deputy chief executive Kalai Vanan, adding the Boltz' resilience helped it on the road to recovery.

Then there was Comot the elongated tortoise which was found two years ago walking along the road near the nature reserve at Seraya Crescent, and Audrey who was found in 2011 wandering around a bus stop.

The repatriation of the reptiles was documented on social media through a series of live videos and updates.

At about 4.30pm, ACRES posted that the animals had left Singapore, and at 9pm, it said that they had passed the borders and were in the clear to proceed.

Mr Kalai said the repatriation was very important not just for animals: "It is also a message to everyone out there that many of these animals which are smuggled in - they do deserve a second chance at life."

"In the wild there will be no enclosure to confine them, they will be able to roam free and wild … Being endangered and vulnerable as they are, they can now meet other animals of the same species and reproduce," he added.

Home Affairs and Law Minister K Shanmugam, who attended the repatriation event, highlighted the importance of raising awareness on the illegal wildlife trade.

"Wildlife trade is not going to be stopped simply by us saying it should be stopped, or having legislation," the minister said. "I think it can only come about through education. Human beings are innately good people."

"We look at the story of Boltz and the other turtles here, it’s really heart-rending. People look at them – they are small and cute, (they) take them as pets - (it) shouldn’t be done."

Source: CNA/mz/(gs)


6 rescued turtles sent back to Malaysia by Acres
Esther Koh Straits Times 17 Apr 18;

The Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) sent six rescued reptiles back to Malaysia yesterday, the first time that it has done a mass repatriation.

It is part of Acres' efforts to rescue, rehabilitate and repatriate wild animals nabbed by illegal traders for their meat or to be sold as pets.

Yesterday's batch consisted of four giant Asian turtles, categorised as a vulnerable species, and two elongated tortoises, deemed an endangered species.


The first reptile to be successfully released back to the wild was Rahayu, a Malaysian giant turtle, in February last year.

Acres deputy chief executive Kalai Vanan lamented that reptiles are preyed on by illegal traders on a large scale.

"For now, we are focusing on the repatriation of reptiles," he told The Straits Times.

Most of the six reptiles were found wandering in open spaces such as roads before they were rescued.

One of them, a giant Asian turtle named Boltz, was rescued in October 2011 after it had been run over by a truck. It suffered severe internal injuries as well as a large, lightning-shaped crack on its shell that inspired its name.

When Acres was set up in 2001, it focused on advocacy and educational work, raising public awareness on important animal protection issues that were previously unaddressed in Singapore. Its rehabilitation and repatriation efforts were a more recent development.

The construction of an animal shelter in Tengah was stalled in 2008 when the building contractor filled the site with contaminated earth and wood chips that rotted over time. Acres won its suit against A.N.A Contractor in 2015.

Despite the difficulties, Acres opened the Wildlife Rescue Centre in 2009 to begin the vital rehabilitation of rescued animals. In 2013, an outdoor sanctuary was built near the Acres office to house animals rescued from the illicit trades.

According to Mr Kalai, after Boltz was rescued seven years ago, it would look out of its cage longingly whenever it rained. This spurred Mr Kalai to build the outdoor sanctuary, which currently has about 160 wild animals.

Law Minister K. Shanmugam, who was present at yesterday's repatriation, said: "Small as we are, Singapore can make a difference (in wildlife conservation ) worldwide. At least within Singapore, we try and do the right things."

To this end, there have been improvements in terms of legislation and the public sector approach towards animal welfare.

Acres chief executive Louis Ng noted that his society had succeeded in getting the authorities to mete out stiffer penalties to illegal wildlife traders.

Those found guilty now face a maximum fine of $50,000 and/or two years' jail, on a per animal basis. Previously, they faced a maximum fine of $5,000 and/or a year's jail on a per species basis only.

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New maritime traffic technologies in the works to cut risk of collisions

Ilyda Chua Straits Times 16 Apr 18;

SINGAPORE - With the Singapore port being a busy one where a ship arrives or leaves every two to three minutes, new technologies are being developed to improve congestion forecasts and minimise collisions.

The goal is to enhance navigational safety, for instance, through technologies that can predict and issue early warnings on the risk of collision, using technologies such as prediction or risk calculation models.

On Monday (April 16), technology firm Fujitsu Limited, Singapore Management University (SMU) and the Institute of High Performance Computing at the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star) announced that they are collaborating on innovative new technologies for vessel traffic management.

The technologies will utilise artificial intelligence and big data analysis to better manage Singapore's port and its surrounding waters in the Straits of Singapore and Malacca, they said in a press statement.

According to the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA), there are about 1,000 vessels in the Port of Singapore port at any given moment.

The project on vessel traffic management technologies is being done under the Urban Computing and Engineering Centre of Excellence, set up in 2014 by A*Star, SMU, and Fujitsu. The initiative is supported by the MPA.

In the statement, Captain M Segar, assistant chief executive of operations at MPA, said: "As Singapore develops future capabilities that will enhance our port operations, research and innovation will remain key to the maritime industry."

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Indonesia: Pertamina sanctioned for Balikpapan oil spill

Karina M. Tehusijarana The Jakarta Post 17 Apr 18;

The Environment and Forestry Ministry has told state-owned oil and gas company PT Pertamina to take responsibility for the restoration of polluted Balikpapan Bay in East Kalimantan, given its role in the recent oil spill that has devastated the local environment.

Responsibility for cleaning up the bay and its surroundings is one of the sanctions imposed by the ministry on the firm, Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar said on Monday.

The ministry found that Pertamina’s refinery in Balikpapan lacked an early-warning system and had no automated monitoring. Siti said the sanctions would also compel the company to improve its pipeline inspection and prevention systems, which the ministry found to be sub-par. “We’ve imposed administrative sanctions on Pertamina’s RU V [Refinery Unit V], including the restoration of the environment from the pipeline leak,” she told lawmakers at the House of Representatives Commission VII overseeing energy and mineral resources and environmental affairs on Monday.

“[Pertamina] is the permit holder in the area and that is where we see [the responsibility],” Siti added.

The ministry had previously determined that the spill was caused by a burst undersea pipeline connecting Pertamina’s Lawe-Lawe terminal to its refinery in Balikpapan city. The leak on March 31 led to a fire that claimed five lives as well as causing ecological damage regarded as the largest environmental disaster in Indonesia in the past 10 years.

Around 40,000 barrels of crude oil affected 7,000 hectares of the bay. The oil slick also affected about 240 ha of mangrove forests and resulted in the deaths of protected species living in the bay.

Pertamina president director Elia Massa Manik said the company was prepared to improve its monitoring systems and had already taken part in a cleanup and environmental-restoration activities in the immediate aftermath of the spill.

Besides opening medical posts at eight locations around the area and a public kitchen, the company had allocated Rp 785 billion (US$57.3 million) for a labor-intensive environmental cleanup program involving 5,239 community members, he added.

Pertamina refinery director Toharso added that, regardless of who was at fault, the company was ready to pay out compensation for the families of those who died in the fire and for all those who had suffered losses because of the spill.

“We will ignore for the moment who was wrong and who was right,” he said. “Based on our sense of social responsibility, we have immediately started the cleanup up process and paid damages.”

Siti added that the ministry was still conducting its evaluation of the monetary value of the environmental damage from the spill, which would be used in civil proceedings against the responsible parties.

“If we take Balongan as a benchmark, this is many times that,” she said, citing a 2008 oil spill in Balongan district in Indramayu, West Java, which she said resulted in about Rp 100 billion in damages.

House Commission VII invited all related parties to the first meeting to discuss the oil spill disaster in Balikpapan on Monday.

Meanwhile, East Kalimantan Police special crimes director Sr. Comr. Yustan Alpiani said the investigation was ongoing and awaiting results from comparative analysis of material found on Panama-flagged collier MV Ever Judger’s anchor with that from the broken pipeline.

“We just need those results and testimony from expert witnesses to conclude the investigation and determine a suspect,” Yustan said in the meeting.

Balikpapan Port master Sanggam Marihot told lawmakers that there was an indication that the Panamanian vessel passing through the area had accidently dropped anchor in a restricted area, dragging the pipeline and causing it to burst.

Members of House Commission VII urged the relevant ministries, particularly the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry, to improve its oversight of Pertamina’s other undersea pipelines to avoid such an incident from happening again.

“Commission VII calls on the Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry to conduct a comprehensive review of all of Pertamina’s vital facilities and to carry out periodic monitoring and oversight to ensure that regulations are enforced stringently and correctly,” commission chairman Gus Irawan Pasaribu said, reading out the commission’s conclusion at the end of the meeting.

Deputy Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Arcandra Tahar, who was also present, said the ministry had already acted according to its responsibilities saying that it had sent its oil and gas inspector to the field to conduct an intensive investigation in the area to determine any violations.

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Indonesia: Another China-Japan battle expected over 'world's dirtiest' river

Moses Ompusunggu The Jakarta Post 15 Apr 18;

The multiyear rehabilitation project of the Citarum River in West Java is set to become another arena for Japan and China to flex their financial muscle, as the two global powerhouses eye a stake in what has been labelled as Indonesia's most ambitious environmental project to date.

For now, Japan and China, two countries that have faced off in head-to-head competition in some of the biggest projects under President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo's infrastructure development program, appear to be the most serious foreign economies that want, or at least have shown an interest, to do business in the Citarum.

Officials said Indonesia welcomes any country that wants to participate in the effort to clean up the Citarum as their involvement would only aid the implementation of the ambitious program.

"We are very happy to open opportunities to all parties [to participate in the Citarum’s rehabilitation project]," said Safri Burhanuddin, the Office of the Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister’s undersecretary for human resources, science and technology and maritime culture, in an interview recently.

The Citarum has been dubbed the world's dirtiest rivers by several international organizations and media outlets since at least 2012. The 297-kilometer Citarum is the third-longest river in Indonesia's most populated island of Java, after Bengawan Solo in Central Java and Brantas in East Java.

To achieve the rehabilitation of the Citarum, Jokowi is setting an ambitious goal. He said he wanted to make the river's water “very clean” by 2025, having established in February a program nicknamed Citarum Harum (Fragrant Citarum), which will run for seven years. The government has yet to calculate the cost of the program.

The successful implementation of Citarum Harum would be a boost for the 30 million people living near the river, spanning from Bandung in West Java to Jakarta. They depend on the Citarum for water supply, hydropower and farming. Most of Jakarta’s raw water supply for tap water come from the Jatiluhur Dam, which captures water from the Citarum.

Past efforts to clean the Citarum

Human and business activity, such as the thousands of textile factories and millions of households dumping untreated liquid waste into the river, has contaminated the Citarum for decades.

The central government and West Java administration have previously implemented programs to clean the river. In 2010, the government launched the Integrated Citarum Water Resources Management Investment Program. The goal was to clean the river in 15 years and involved the central government, regional governments, NGOs and the private sector.

The Asian Development Bank (ADB) calculated in 2008 that the program would cost Rp 35 trillion over 15 years, the equivalent of US$3.5 billion at the time. The bank loaned Indonesia $500 million for the program.

In 2013, the ADB and the World Bank released another report stating that two-thirds of the pollution was coming from municipal domestic waste and the rest from industrial and agriculture waste. The cost to treat domestic waste stood at Rp 14 trillion while industrial waste stood at Rp 1.6 trillion over 20 years, the report said. The financial benefit of cleaning the river, it went on, was estimated at Rp 2.1 trillion per year.

The results of the existing programs, however, have been invisible. In September last year, the river was in the international spotlight again after the Bencheghib brothers from France made a documentary about how dirty the Citarum was.

Attractive business opportunities

Yet for Indonesia's economic partners, Citarum Harum means business opportunities in Southeast Asia's largest economy.

Safri said Japan and China were the only two countries as of now that had officially presented proposals to rehabilitate the Citarum.

In late March, the Japan-Indonesia Coordination Agency gathered businesspeople who operated around the Citarum river basin at an event held in Bandung to present waste management technology that could be implemented in the region, said Safri.

Prior to the event, there was a meeting between Japan’s Deputy Environment Minister Arata Takebe and Environment and Forestry Minister Siti Nurbaya Bakar on Jan. 19, in which the former agreed to help Indonesia rejuvenate the dirty Citarum.

Meanwhile, China's first intervention was manifested in a move by the Shenzhen Fountain Corporation, a listed Chinese water management company. It presented this month three Chinese water specialists offering "a comprehensive solution" to address the multilayered problems in the Citarum before high level Indonesian officials and water specialists at the BPPT auditorium in Central Jakarta.

One of the water specialists, Wang Hao, is an influential water adviser to Chinese government, Fountain assistant CEO Alexander Gevanno told The Jakarta Post. Wang is the director of the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research.

Alexander, an Indonesian, claimed the foremost aim of the seminar was for educational purposes in order to introduce the government to what China had carried out to address its water pollution problems and water scarcity. The company, however, admitted it was eyeing future business opportunities and aimed at handling two to three projects within the Citarum Harum program.

"I think we can demonstrate and provide the scheme with the lowest cost to supply clean water. Then, we can develop more business opportunities," Fountain CEO Andrew Zheng told the Post.

Officials said the Jokowi administration had a special expert team that would decide which technology or scheme offered by foreign countries was the most feasible for the Citarum Harum project.

"In the end, they [foreign countries] want to do business [in the Citarum] and each of party wants its technology to be used. We will examine the pros and cons of each proposal," said Safri.

In the seminar at the BPPT, Coordinating Maritime Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan hailed China's use of technology and achievements in handling its environmental problems, including water pollution and water scarcity.

"Let's use technology such as that presented by our friends from China," said Luhut, referring to the presentation by Fountain.

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Indonesia: Limitation of tourist visits to prevent komodo extinction

Aloysius Lewokeda Antara 16 Apr 18;

Kupang, E Nusa Tenggara (ANTARA News) - Komodo National Park is still awaiting the results of a study on the carrying capacity for the limitation of the number of tourists to the Komodo tourist area.

"We are reviewing the carrying capacity of various spots within the Komodo tourist area to determine the level of tolerance of natural resources available to the number of tourist visits," Head of Komodo National Park, Budi Kurniawan, stated here on Monday.

He noted that the Komodo National Park Authority plans to limit the number of visitors in order to prevent the stress faced by Komodo. Recently, the carrying capacity study has been conducted on more than 40 tourist spots in the Komodo tourist area.

Eleven of these dozens of spots have been studied and identified by World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), especially for dive spots.

According to Kurniawan, Center for Eco-region Development Control (P3E) of Bali and Nusa Tenggara, along with the World Bank, is reviewing the spots that the WWF has not yet identified, including land tourist spots.

This study is expected to be completed in 2018, so that the relevant authorities can issue a policy to manage the number of tourists to the spots.

"The results of this study will reveal the maximum number of visitors who can visit the spots every day," he remarked.

Furthermore, the tolerance of the number of tourist visits to the conservation area cannot be estimated because it is dynamically related to ecosystem conditions.

According to Kurniawan, certain tourist destinations in Komodo Island can be closed at certain times to prevent the extinction of Komodo.

"Hopefully, this study estimates the maximum number of visits that are still tolerant related to the impact on the existing natural resource conditions," he revealed.

Editor: Bustanuddin

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Indonesia: Riau farmer injured after fighting off sun bears

Rizal Harahap The Jakarta Post 16 Apr 18;

Dasril, 50, a farmer from Lubuk Ulat hamlet in Rokan Hulu regency, Riau, injured his thigh after fighting off two sun bears on Sunday.

Rokan Hulu Police chief Sr. Adj. Comr. Hasyim Risahondua said the farmer was attacked by the bears on Sunday while on his way to a rubber plantation where he worked, about three kilometers away from the hamlet.

“He was going to the plantation on foot. After walking for two kilometers, he heard the sound of an animal roar and suddenly two bears appeared in front of him,” Hasyim said Monday.

Dasril said a bear about 1.5 meters high attacked him, so he defended himself using a machete, eventually hurting the bear’s head and back. The bear ran away and was hiding in the bushes when a second bear appeared and mauled his left thigh. Dasril screamed until the bear eventually let him go and left.

“[Dasril] struggled to return home using a piece of wood to support him. After one kilometer, he couldn’t take it any longer and stopped. He was found by two local men who then walked him home,” Hasyim said, adding that Dasril was then rushed to a local hospital for surgery.

Dasril’s son Rio Andri asked the local natural resources conservation agency to capture the bears over fear of repeated attacks. (swd)

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