Best of our wild blogs: 31 Jan 18

Kranji Clamity Continues
wild shores of singapore

Some abandoned net at Kranji (Jan 2018)
Project Driftnet Singapore

Survey Chek Jawa!
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

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AVA's tender exercise for fish-farming land was fair

Straits Times 30 Jan 18;

Mr Chan Tzeh Wey highlighted that the recent Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) tender exercise for three land parcels for fish farming received lukewarm response, and suggested the AVA revise its scheme to encourage genuine farmers to participate in the tender (Encourage firms with farming experience to bid for tenders; Jan 25).

We, Opal Resources, were one of the bidders and would like to share our view as a fish-farming practitioner in Singapore.

We first thank the AVA for the new fixed-price scheme, instead of going by the highest-bidder model.

This helps keep land cost low and allows farmers a better chance to compete with imported farm produce.

The tender term of 20 years is also fair, as farmers need time to recoup the heavy capital investment.

In fact, we were hoping for an even longer term.

As for the lukewarm response, this could be because there are more marine-based fish farms in Singapore than land-based ones. Hence, naturally, the tender of land for land-based fish farms would attract less interest.

Another reason could also be the difficult conditions for fish farming in Singapore.

Farmers are often on their own due to the lack of strong aquaculture communities and supply chains like that in Thailand or Vietnam.

Important issues, such as the availability of quality fish fry, have plagued fish farmers here for years.

In our case, we saw this bottleneck early and have invested considerably to start our in-house hatchery, since without fish fry, there is no fish farming.

Mr Chan had also suggested extending the tender deadline.

However, this might not improve participation rate, as the AVA made the announcement of the tender back in May last year.

Eight months is a reasonable preparation time, even for new players.

Alex Siow Ching Hai

Managing Director
Opal Resources

Encourage firms with farming experience to bid for tenders
Straits Times 25 Jan 18;

In May last year, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) announced that 36 plots of land for food farming on 20-year leases were up for tender, under the new fixed scheme to allow farmers to embrace technology with productivity (Land to be released for new farms to raise food supply; May 12, 2017).

That was a pleasant piece of news for Singaporeans and entrepreneurs alike, and showed the AVA's support towards the industry and building the country's food resilience capability.

However, it came as a surprise to me that it garnered a lukewarm response - only five proposals were received for the three land parcels at Neo Tiew Crescent for fish farming.

My cursory check on those who were successful in their bids showed that only one of the companies may have experience in fish farming.

The AVA should revise its scheme further so that it can encourage genuine farmers to participate in the tender, as 20 years is a very long time to see the results of improved food farming.

At a time when food security is important to Singapore, the way the tenders for these plots of land are awarded is worrisome.

Maybe a further extension of the tender deadline would encourage more companies to participate as well.

Chan Tzeh Wey


Farmland tender methods encourage innovation, technology
Straits Times 5 Feb 18;

We thank Mr Chan Tzeh Wey (Encourage firms with farming experience to bid for tenders; Jan 25), and Mr Alex Siow Ching Hai (AVA's tender exercise for fish-farming land was fair; Jan 30) for their views on the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority's (AVA) farmland tender launched in October last year.

Local production is important for Singapore's food security. Given our land constraints, we must maximise land usage to boost local supply. This is why the AVA adopted a new approach to the farmland tenders.

Instead of the conventional price method, a fixed-price method was adopted for most of the tenders. Tenderers compete based on the quality of concepts proposed, with a focus on productivity.

The AVA also ensured that the tender period was sufficient for those who were interested to participate in the tender exercise. The tender period of 10 weeks was longer than the six-to eight-week period usually given for land tender exercises.

To help farmers prepare for the tender, we briefed them in May last year, and our farm account managers actively followed up to engage the farmers and provide further support. The AVA also conducted advisory sessions on the drafting of tender proposals.

The AVA would like to clarify that the tender proposals received are currently being evaluated and the tender has not been awarded.

The proposals will be evaluated based on production capability, production track record, relevant experience and qualification, and innovation and sustainability.

Local production is important for Singapore's food security. Given our land constraints, we must maximise land usage to boost local supply. This is why the AVA adopted a new approach to the farmland tenders.

While the AVA continues to work closely with farmers and support their efforts in transforming our agriculture sector to bolster food security, we urge members of the public to play a part by choosing local produce.

This will help to support the business of our local farmers and spur our farms to raise their production levels to meet the increased demand.

Melvin Chow
Group Director, Food Supply Resilience Group
Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority

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AVA advises Changi Golf Club on how to keep boars out after clip shows one on golf course

Lydia Lam Straits Times 30 Jan 18;

SINGAPORE - There has not been any public feedback on wild boar sightings at Changi Golf Club, the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority of Singapore (AVA) said in a statement on Tuesday (Jan 30).

AVA was responding to a video circulating online that shows a large wild boar apparently trotting about on a golf course.

The caption with the video says the animal was "spotted at Changi Golf Course Hole #3".

People in the video are heard calling out to other people in a golf buggy, who manage to drive towards the person taking the video before the boar reaches them.

"Hurry up, get away!" a woman shouts in Mandarin. A man is heard exclaiming at the end: "Whoa, scared me to death."

Even though there were no reported sightings, AVA said it has advised the management of the golf club on measures they can take to prevent wild boars from entering the premises.

These include erecting barriers to block off possible access points and removing food sources.

In its response to The Straits Times, AVA advised the public not to approach, disturb, feed or try to catch any wildlife.

"We urge the public to keep a safe distance from all wild boars and avoid confronting or cornering the animals," said AVA. "Do not interact with the animal and ensure that young children and pets are kept away as they may be curious and approach it."

Wild boars, which are native to Singapore, have been in the news in previous months for causing accidents.

In November last year, the police shot a tusked wild boar on a road in Punggol as it was rampaging.

The Animal Concerns Research & Education Society (Acres) subsequently euthanised it as it was in great distress.

For more information on wild boars, refer to AVA's advisory on its website or contact AVA on 18000-476-1600 to provide feedback or request for assistance.

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Hail, flash floods, fallen trees reported in Yishun after thunderstorm

LOW YOUJIN Today Online 30 Jan 18;

SINGAPORE – A thunderstorm on Tuesday (Jan 30) afternoon not only flooded roads, but rained hail and toppled several trees in the northeastern part of the island.

PUB said in a statement late Tuesday night that the flash floods, which ocurred at 5.17pm, were caused by "overland flow from the storm (which) exceeded the capacity of the roadside drains".

The flood subsided around 30 minutes later at 5.45pm.

Earlier in the day, the agency had issued a flood alert for Seletar North Link at around 5.30pm, advising motorists to avoid the area as both lanes of the two-lane stretch was flooded by heavy rain.

According to the PUB, Seletar North Link had experienced a similar flash flood last December.

They agency added that it is in the process of constructing two temporary drains in the area to alleviate flooding. "One such drain will be completed shortly in mid February. The other should be done by May 2018. More permanent drainage is planned in tandem with upcoming developments in the area," it said.

Nearby along Yishun Avenue 1, footage emerged showing several trees lying strewn across the road.

The footage, which was uploaded onto Facebook by Mr Faizal Fila with a caption advising drivers to avoid Seletar Dam, showed large tree branches that appeared to have been snapped off.

The 38-year-old taxi driver told TODAY he was driving home through the affected stretch with his wife at 4.45pm when the video was taken.

"It started at the Seletar West Link CTE exit," said Mr Faizal. He said some of the fallen trees were uprooted, while others had snapped into half. He added that the trail of tree debris went all the way to Yishun Avenue 1 and to Avenue 11.

"Even the Yishun Avenue signboard was smashed to the ground," he said.

Mr Faizal described visibility as being "extremely poor, even when driving really slowly". He added that he did not notice any vehicles that had been damaged by the fallen debris.

Tuesday's storm had also caused collateral damage at a farm at Bah Soon Pah Road.

Ms Ore Huiying shared on her Facebook page damage caused by the storm at Oh Farms. Photos showed broken hydroponic sets littering a portion of the farm, with protective nets and metal frames blown out of place.

The 36-year-old freelance photographer, who helps out at the family farm, told TODAY that strong gusts of wind had also blown off one of the zinc roof structures at the farm.

"It lasted very briefly, but the damages caused were the most serious we've ever seen since operating the farm!" she said.

According to Ms Ore, a neighbouring farm was not spared as well. The strong winds had toppled some of its wooden structures and sent pieces of broken wood flying over to her side.

“Everyone was scrambling for shelter,” she said.

While no one was injured, she estimates that the damage caused by the storm would put production at the hydroponics farm on hold for at least a week.

Social media users also reported witnessing hail during the storm. Footage from videos showed ice pellets the size of grapes falling onto grass patches at a nearby golf course and the balcony of a condominium.

TODAY has reached out to the National Environment Agency (NEA) for comments

According to a description on the NEA website, hailstones are quite rare in the tropics because they usually melt as they fall from the clouds, before reaching the ground. On average, public sightings of hailstones in Singapore occur every one to two years.

The last time Singapore experienced hail was in October 2014.

Elsewhere, other social media users had uploaded their experience commuting through Tuesday's storm. Twitter user The Snapped Fork said she was stuck in traffic on the way from Yishun to Yio Chu Kang.

She wrote that there were more than "20 trees over the road, thick traffic, snapped road barriers, bent signage."

A worker who was clearing the road of fallen trees told TODAY that at least 50 trees had fallen along Seletar North during the storm.

Last week, flash floods were also reported in the Western and Central parts of Singapore, after an afternoon of heavy rain on Wednesday (Jan 24).

The floods were reported at Jalan Boon Lay/International Road, Craig Road and Outram Road.

The PUB says it expects the ongoing Northeast Monsoon season to continue till March.


Thunder, lightning - and hailstones as well
Lydia Lam Straits Times 31 Jan 18;

Stormy weather led to downpours across the island yesterday, causing flash floods in Seletar, felling trees and even raining hailstones.

Some readers reported seeing the tiny balls of ice falling with the rain around 4.30pm.

Ms Junawati Ashak told The Straits Times that it "rained ice" at Seletar Airport at around 4.30pm.

The 45-year-old receptionist at Jet Aviation Singapore said she was in the lobby when she saw the sky darkening outside.

"It rained very heavily and there was a storm with very strong wind. Then the rain came down with ice."

Another reader, who gave her name only as Madam Lee M.L., said she was in her Yishun home at about 4.45pm when she heard a clattering sound.

"The rain came quite suddenly, there was very loud thunder and lightning as well," said the 47-year-old who lives on the fourth floor of a condominium. "When I looked out, I saw some white cubes hitting the glass door of the balcony. I thought they looked like ice cubes."

Madam Lee said there were about five hailstones the size of 5-and 10-cent coins. "It's so amazing to see this on my balcony. I've seen snow before but not hail."

Hail is rare in Singapore but not unheard of. In 2014, hailstones were reportedly seen in Turf Club Road during a heavy downpour. In 2013, a rare hailstorm uprooted trees and disrupted traffic.

The last reported incidence of hail before that was in 2009.

According to the National Environment Agency's website, hail is produced only by cumulonimbus or thunderstorm clouds.

Yesterday's heavy rain caused flash floods on both lanes of Seletar North Link Road at about 5.15pm. The floods subsided about half an hour later.

PUB said in a statement yesterday that it is in the process of constructing two temporary drains in the area to alleviate flooding.

The first drain will be completed in mid-February, while the other is slated for completion by May. More permanent drainage solutions are being planned along with upcoming developments in the area.

The stormy weather also felled a few trees in Yishun and Yio Chu Kang yesterday. At 5.10pm, the Yio Chu Kang Road exit from the Tampines Expressway to the Seletar Expressway was closed due to a tree that blocked the road.


More than 200 incidents of fallen small trees, snapped branches in Tuesday's storms: NParks
Channel NewsAsia 31 Jan 18;

SINGAPORE: There were more than 200 reported incidents of small trees falling and snapped branches after Tuesday's heavy rain and thunderstorms, said the National Parks Board (NParks) on Wednesday (Jan 31).

In an email to Channel NewsAsia, group director of Streetscape, NParks, Mr Oh Cheow Sheng said that Tuesday's event was an example of "extreme storms" in recent years, which consisted of strong winds up to 70km/h or more coupled with heavy rains.

The reported "intense rain and strong winds" during the late afternoon were observed in the north and northeastern parts of Singapore such as Yishun, Sembawang, Seletar, Mandai and Gambas, he said.

"By late evening, NParks had received reports of more than 200 tree incidents comprising mainly small trees and snapped branches, most of which were cleared by 8pm yesterday."

Mr Oh added that NParks staff were on the ground on Wednesday morning to inspect trees in the affected areas and clear remaining debris.

This is not the first time that intense weather events have damaged trees in Singapore. In 2011, 10,000 forest trees were lost at the Mandai area while in 2012 around 100 trees fell in a wooded area at Changi Beach Park.

To prepare for such weather events, NParks has replaced storm-vulnerable trees and carried out targeted pruning and crown reduction prior to the monsoon season, said Mr Oh.

He added that NParks has had in place a "comprehensive tree management programme" since the early 2000s.

Further measures were also implemented in May 2016 to refine crown reduction and pruning processes, said Mr Oh, adding that that these were carried out prior to periods of "more severe weather conditions".

Regular inspection and pruning are key components of NParks’ tree management regime, said Mr Oh. These are based on the tree care guidelines of the International Society of Arboriculture.

"During inspections, NParks’ certified arborists assess the condition of each tree based on their location and site factors," he said.

"Where necessary, diagnostic equipment is used to ascertain the trees’ internal conditions. The frequency of tree inspection and pruning varies according to location, species, age and tree condition."

Mr Oh added that NParks is currently developing modelling techniques to "better understand" the behaviour of trees under varying environmental conditions.

Source: CNA/ad

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Best of our wild blogs: 30 Jan 18

Ubin Comprehensive Biodiversity Survey - marine survey!
wild shores of singapore

Mud lobsters: 'Condo Developers' in the Mangroves
wild shores of singapore

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Protect our environmental reserves like fiscal reserves

Geh Min Straits Times 20 Jan 18;

Man-made, short-term economic gain is sometimes behind so-called 'natural' disasters. Singapore can play its part by recognising the value of its environmental reserves.

Last year saw its share of natural disasters: hurricanes, earthquakes volcanic eruptions, floods, wildfires and so on. If we feel a sense of disaster fatigue on reading about them, imagine how the victims must feel - especially when informed to expect worse in the coming years!

But how natural are natural disasters? Is this term a convenient tag for sloppy thinking or an easy way to blame Mother Nature? Or even a deliberate ploy by politicians or corporations to absolve themselves from blame?

On closer examination, many "natural" disasters have a degree of human culpability; some are, in fact, wholly man-made.

Take the haze from which we have been spared last year and were suitably grateful. (Malaysia has even gone to the extent of publicly thanking the Indonesians.) For several decades, it was believed that the seasonal air pollution over Singapore and our neighbours was a result of "natural" forest fires despite environmentalists and scientists explaining that tropical forests do not naturally combust, unlike those in drier zones.

This myth was a convenient smokescreen for both companies and politicians who lacked the economic incentive or political will to prevent them. It was only after the huge conflagration in 1997, with estimated losses to Singapore of over $100 million in health, tourism and the airline industry alone, that the general public woke up to the fact that the culprits were not Mother Nature or even traditional slash-and-burn farmers but oil palm and paper companies clearing land for replanting. In fact, nature was not the culprit; but the cure - a good shower of rain - was more effective than any amount of on-the-ground firefighting or water-bombing from the air in stopping the conflagration.

The reason for distinguishing natural from man-made disasters is prevention or at least mitigation.

The number of people killed, displaced or injured, and the economic losses sustained are what distinguishes a natural phenomenon from a disaster. So while we cannot prevent earthquakes or volcanic eruptions, we can prevent them from becoming disasters by prediction and precautionary measures.

Unfortunately, although science and technology have given us a far better understanding of natural phenomenon than our ancestors, who could see them only as acts of God or nature, we are also hampered by the fact that our global population has increased to the point that not only is it impossible to live in disaster-free areas, but we are also contributing to their severity, climate change being the prime example.

Our ability to prevent or reduce the severity of disasters depends on several basic precepts.

SEEING THE BIG PICTURE

Several decades ago, I was travelling in one of the East African countries through endless, dusty, semi-arid savannah, when we saw what looked like a huge rocky outcrop.

Getting closer, it turned out to be a hotel for several hundred guests which would not have been out of place in any tourist resort but was totally incongruous in a region of single-storey mud huts or small, tented camps - even these were few and far between. The eerie thing was that, although completed, it was totally deserted and I remember vividly the sight of wild grasses growing through cracks in the otherwise pristine but empty Olympic-sized pool.

This had been an ambitious joint project by the World Bank and the government to boost tourism and the country's economy. Unfortunately, the planners had been so fixated with the economic bottom line that they had neglected to factor in the project's environmental sustainability.

A hotel of that size would have needed far more water than was available in that area and to pipe in the necessary water from a distant source required a doubling of the many millions that had already been poured into the project.

So the whole place had been abandoned.

This illustrates dramatically what is often played out: a failure to realise that the big picture is the environment. All human activity, including economic activity - which so engrosses planners, politicians and captains of industry - must occur in the natural environment which supplies us with air, water, land, food and all the other resources we need to stay alive and economically active. These have always been plentiful and self-renewing in the past when human activity was a small blip in the natural landscape, but now that humans and their impact have grown exponentially to become a dominant force, we can no longer treat the environment as a self-sustaining "externality".

The natural environment we live in is our life-support system and is now severely overstretched and degraded by thoughtless, irresponsible and ignorant "business as usual" assumptions.

MAKING THE RIGHT CONNECTIONS

The link between some human actions and resulting environmental problems should be obvious.

Haze arising from forest fires caused by deliberate or uncontrolled land clearing by burning is one - but even that took a long time for us to join the dots. Even now, it is not possible to get a clear picture of all parties responsible because of the number and complexity of the players and motives.

But many more disasters have a far more remote and complicated connection with human activity, compounded by historical or geographical distance.

Many countries are suffering from water shortages today as a result of overambitious and inappropriate industries and agriculture. While the mistakes are now recognised, it is not a simple matter to rectify practices which are both a mainstay of the economy and a major source of environmental degradation.

The tragic drying up of the Aral Sea, recently one of the world's four largest lakes and now described as one of the planet's greatest environmental disasters, was caused by massive irrigation projects by the Soviets in the 1960s piping water into the desert for growing cotton. Within living memory, it is now shrunken to less than a tenth of its original size and has a salinity higher than the Dead Sea.

Fishing boats ,which used to serve a flourishing industry and supply essential protein to the millions in land-locked countries around it, now rust on dry beds of salt, sand and toxic chemicals which in a sand storm spread wind-borne toxic dust to a huge area already deprived of fresh water. Unfortunately, efforts to reverse this involve gargantuan injections of money and transnational cooperation with no guarantee of success.

We have made the link between overfishing and rapidly depleting fisheries or deforestation resulting in flooding and landslides. That is well and good - but what about deforestation causing depletion of our fisheries as a result of excessive runoff and erosion which smothers coral and mangroves, the nurseries of much of our seafood; or deforestation resulting in degradation and depletion of drinking water; and of course climate change which will accelerate and exacerbate all these other problems?

The list is so endless and interconnected that, not surprisingly, most people, including or perhaps especially, policymakers, don't want to know, because to recognise the problem means having to take action. It is so much easier to live from day to day and think of floods, pollution, fire or other environmental events as natural disasters.

TAKING THE LONG VIEW

Thinking more moves ahead gives competitive advantage to both chess players and countries.

Singapore has been very fortunate in having Mr Lee Kuan Yew as our founding prime minister. Described as visionary, he was astute enough to take the long view and act on it. Singaporeans can thank him and the first generation of leaders for our clean air, adequate drinking water and much more. But even he recognised that this millennium brings far more global environmental challenges than the past.

United States President Donald Trump has repeatedly trumpeted his "America first" slogan but is rapidly eroding rather than strengthening US supremacy, as seen by his stance on climate change.

Russia, more than any other major power, stands to benefit economically and geopolitically from global warming as it will open up important shipping routes and ports in the Arctic as well as access to huge reserves of minerals, oil and gas, not to mention enormous tracts of agricultural land. It would be ironic if the US should speed up this process through their carbon emissions.

Whether Mr Trump is aware of this is questionable but the Chinese certainly are and have been preparing the ground for greater engagement in the Arctic, including acquiring observer status in the Arctic Council. So has Singapore, despite our being even more geographically remote.

GREEN GLOBAL POSITIONING

We have seen how misguided thinking, based on insufficient knowledge and for short-term economic gains, has had long-term socio-economic costs, many of them almost impossible to reverse.

Singapore should continue the legacy of thinking ahead on environmental issues and retain our competitive edge by more careful and informed environmental decisions.

For example, the proposed Cross Island Line of the MRT through our central catchment and largest nature reserve may have serious repercussion on our water supply and the sustainability of our forest and the valuable ecosystem services they provide.

Do we really want to risk all this for an estimated few minutes less of travelling time and some relatively minor cost-saving?

The decision should not be taken without very serious consideration by not just the Land Transport Authority, but by the whole of government with extensive consultation with Singaporeans.

In fact, to prevent future disaster, we should be guarding our environmental reserves as carefully as we do our fiscal and social reserves.

•The writer, an environmentalist and former Nominated MP, is the immediate past president of the Nature Society (Singapore).

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Malaysia: Sabah Fisheries may propose export ban on fresh sea products

The Star 30 Jan 18;

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah Fisheries Department will recommend a ban on the export of fresh marine products from the state if a shortage arises ahead of Chinese New Year celebrations.

The department’s director Dr Ahemad Sade said the move is to protect the interest of locals and to ensure sufficient local supply.

“We will recommend to the state government to order a temporary ban if there is a need. This will help lower the prices of fresh sea products,” he said.

The Kota Kinabalu Fishing Boat Owners Association claimed fish prices are increasing due to the drop in fish landings.

The department will also suggest that all fishing vessels land their catches at the Sabah Fish Marketing jetty here and stop any dealing of high value fish at sea, which is against the Fisheries Act.

Dr Ahemad said claims that the prices of fish have increased by 50% is not true.

Based on the department’s monitoring, he said, there is enough fresh fish stock in the market and the prices are still under control.

“For example, ikan tulai (sardine) cost RM6 a kg based on our checks,” he said on Sunday.

Consumers have complained that sardines were being sold from RM8 to RM12 per kg at times in the Kota Kinabalu Fish Market.

Dr Ahemad also dismissed claims that there was a 50% drop on fish landing in west coast of Sabah.

Based on its statistics, he said, there is a slight increase in landings from 159,773 metric tonnes (valued at RM938.3mil) in 2016 to 161,424 metric tonnes(RM820mil) in 2017.

“Our fishery landings has been consistent,” he added.

On issues of local operators using foreign fishing boats with cloned fishing permits, he said that since 2015 the Government had barred foreign fishing trawlers from Vietnam, China, Taiwan, the Philip­pines and Brunei from operating in the state.


Seafood exports to be halted?
OLIVIA MIWIL New Straits Times 31 Jan 18;

KOTA KINABALU: THE Sabah Fisheries Department will submit a request to the state government to temporarily halt the export of seafood ahead of the Lunar New Year celebrations.

Its director, Dr Ahemad Sade, said the move was aimed at preventing the supply of seafood from depleting and to prevent food prices from ballooning.

Ahemad was responding to claims by Kota Kinabalu Fishing Boat Owners Association chairman Simon Hong that fish catches had declined by half compared with 2015.

“It is not true that the number of fish caught had gone down. Based on our statistics, fishermen in the state caught a consistent amount of fish.

“Last year, we recorded landings of 161,424 metric tonnes, valued at RM938.3 million, compared with 159,773 metric tonnes of fish in 2016,” he said in a statement.

Ahemad added that there was still an abundant supply of seafood in Sabah, based on the department’s recent checks at local markets.

He said since 2015, the state government had restricted the use of foreign fishing vessels by local fishermen in Sabah waters.

“However, existing fishing vessels can still be used, provided they comply with regulations.

“The government has set strict conditions for the application of deep sea fishing licenses,” he added.

Deep sea fishing permits, he said, could only be issued to Malaysian citizens to catch fish in Sabah waters.

“For deep sea fishing, the area of operations should be at least 30 nautical miles from the shore and they should not use trawlers to catch fish.”

Ahemad said all vessels must drop their catch at the designated fish landing jetties provided by the government.

“Each vessel has to install a Mobile Transceiver Unit (MTU) and special marking plate for monitoring and authentication purposes.

“The department has also been working with the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency to address the issue of vessel cloning.”

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Malaysia: 'No environmental impact from logging in Ulu Muda Forest Reserve' - Kedah Forestry

EMBUN MAJID New Straits Times 29 Jan 18;

ALOR STAR: Kedah Forestry Department has completed a study on the impact of logging on the environment in the Ulu Muda Forest Reserve.

The report carried out last week followed claims that the activities had polluted water sources in the area.

A spokesman from the department told New Straits Times today that the findings from the study had been submitted to the Natural Resources and Environment Ministry and the state government.

Without giving details of the findings, the spokesman said it showed that the logging activities did not cause any environmental impact including land erosion or water pollution.

He said tests on water samples from a river in the forest reserve showed that there was no pollution.

“We have one water quality station in Ulu Muda forest reserve and each time logging activity is carried out, we will conduct a test on the water quality to check for pollution.

“We are planning to open two new water stations in the forest reserve to carry out more tests in future to detect for any pollution,” he said.

The spokesman said the department was not compromising with any offences under the National Forestry Act including illegal logging, logging in buffer zone and encroachment.

He said from January until December last year, the department recorded 30 cases of illegal logging activities in the state.

“We issued many compounds to loggers who had breached their licence including felling trees close to the buffer zone.

“Last year, we collected a total of RM1.3 million in compounds,” he said.

Between 2008 and 2016, he said the size of land that was allowed to be logged in the state decreased from 184,831ha to 134,370ha.

The department also increased the size of protected forest by 31 per cent from 157,781ha in 2008 to 207,606ha in 2016.

“So far we have gazetted 27 per cent of the 110,000ha proposed as a catchment area and the remaining areas will be gazetted in stages.

“The process is time consuming because it involves various procedure but the catchment area that we have is protected from any encroahment,” he said.

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Best of our wild blogs: 29 Jan 18

Open for registration – Love MacRitchie Walk with NUS Toddycats! on 10 Feb 2018 (Sat)
Love our MacRitchie Forest

Discover Sungei Buloh!
Celebrating Singapore Shores!

Favourite Nectaring Plants #15
Butterflies of Singapore

Weaver Ant (Oecophylla smaragdina) @ Lorong Halus
Monday Morgue

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Collision into buildings cause of many birds' deaths: Study

Audrey Tan Straits Times 29 Jan 18;

Birds here are dying from encounters with an unexpected "predator".

A new study by scientists here has shown that almost a third of resident birds found dead in Singapore over a four-year period were killed because of collisions with buildings.

Between November 2013 and last October, a total of 362 bird carcasses were picked up by ornithologists from institutions such as the National University of Singapore (NUS), non-profit body BirdLife International and Nature Society (Singapore). They were alerted to the carcasses by members of the public.

The study's lead author from NUS, Mr David Tan, said 104 of the carcasses were found at the base of buildings and exhibited forms of facial injury or head trauma, confirming that their deaths were the result of building collisions.

It was not possible to pinpoint the causes of deaths for most of the carcasses - 225 of them - although the remainder were killed by, among other things, vehicular collision and attacks by animals such as cats.

The rise in bird-building collision rates is not unique to Singapore. In North America, estimates of bird deaths from collisions range from 100 million to one billion a year.

The Singapore study, published last November in The International Journal of Tropical Veterinary and Biomedical Research, also found some species of resident birds were more susceptible to building collisions. Pink-necked green pigeons, Asian glossy starlings and Asian emerald doves seemed exceptionally vulnerable, making up 64 out of the 104 carcasses found.

The fact that all three species are forest-edge fruit-eaters suggests that both feeding patterns and habitat affect a species' susceptibility to collision, the study said. "Given the patchy distribution of parks and forest fragments in Singapore, it is likely these nomadic forest-edge frugivores pass through urban areas as part of their foraging movements, which increases the likelihood of building collisions occurring," the scientists wrote in the paper.

Dr Yong Ding Li from Nature Society (Singapore) said this suggests that buildings near nature areas could incorporate wildlife-friendly measures in their designs, such as reducing the use of huge glass panes which birds tend to crash into.

The findings of the recent study mirror the results of an earlier one focusing on causes of death for migratory birds in Singapore, done by the same group of researchers. That study, published last June, found that between 1998 and 2016, 237 migratory birds collided with buildings and 157 of them died.

On the need to differentiate between migratory birds and resident birds, Mr Tan said: "Migratory birds are pass-through species, not long-term residents, so the factors that result in collisions may be different.

"For example, why is Jurong West a death hot spot for migratory birds, but not for resident birds?"

But the latest study found two regions where resident and migratory collision hot spots overlap: in the Clementi area, near the NUS campus, and in the Central Business District. Finding out the reasons for this - such as whether it was due to light pollution-is what the scientists hope to do next.

In New York, a growing number of building owners are switching off non-essential lights after becoming aware of the fatal attraction birds have to lights. Since 2005, over 90 buildings in the city, including the Rockefeller Centre, have joined the Lights Out scheme, which encourages buildings to take a lights-off approach to keep birds safe.

Here in Singapore, scientists are hopeful that more can be done to reduce bird-building collisions. Mr Tan is in touch with owners of buildings where dead birds have been found, such as at Outward Bound Singapore (OBS) on Pulau Ubin.

An OBS spokesman said a staff member has found three bird carcasses over the past two years. "As part of our efforts to better understand and appreciate the biodiversity of our flora and fauna on Pulau Ubin, we welcome the opportunity to work with Mr David Tan on his research efforts."

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NSS wants public to snap and upload photos of wildlife on app

Audrey Tan Straits Times 29 Jan 18;

See a bird, butterfly or squirrel outside your window?

The Nature Society (Singapore), or NSS, wants to know all about it: How it looks, where you spotted it and at what time.

All that is needed is a free mobile phone application called iNaturalist. With it, people can simply snap a photograph of the animal or plant encountered, then upload it onto the app along with details such as the date, time and location it was spotted.

The data will be publicly available, and would be useful for researchers learning more about the biodiversity in an area, said Dr Anuj Jain, part of the NSS team spearheading this effort.

"We will also be able to identify the changes in flowering and fruiting patterns of garden plants and understand the impacts of climate change better," he said.

The effort is part of NSS' new citizen science programme, Every Singaporean a Naturalist, which aims to get people to document the wildlife they encounter at work, school or play.

"We hope that by getting people to document the wildlife they encounter on a daily basis, it would help them be aware of the biodiversity that thrives even in the city. That is the first step towards greater appreciation of wildlife," said Dr Anuj.

NSS is starting the programme with a pilot involving six organisations - four primary and secondary schools including Queenstown Primary School and Unity Secondary School, as well as two university clubs from the Nanyang Technological University and the National University of Singapore.

But the hope is that everyone in Singapore will join the programme, he added.

Audrey Tan

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NParks sets up first-aid room on Pulau Ubin

KENNETH CHENG Today Online 28 Jan 18;

SINGAPORE — With cycling accidents on Pulau Ubin showing no signs of a let-up, the authorities have set up a first-aid facility on the island, heeding public calls in recent years for a formal space to attend to the injured.

The National Parks Board (NParks) told TODAY in response to queries that the first-aid room at the Ubin Living Lab opened in February 2016.

The lab is situated in the southwest of the island for education and research, and other uses.

Dr Adrian Loo, NParks’ acting group director of conservation, said that the first-aid room is equipped with an examination couch, first-aid materials and equipment such as stretchers, wheelchairs and an automated external defibrillator.

Since it opened, it has provided services for about 50 walk-in cases. Most of the people needed treatment for cuts and abrasions.

The same first-aid materials and equipment are available at the Ubin-HSBC Volunteer Hub — a one-stop centre several minutes by foot from the Ubin Jetty, Dr Loo added.

NParks staff members are at both spots to provide first aid during operation hours throughout the week.

The Ubin Living Lab opens from 9.30am to 4.30pm and the Ubin-HSBC Volunteer Hub, from 8.30am to 5.30pm, on weekdays and weekends.

In January 2015, TODAY reported that NParks was considering having a first-aid facility on the island at the suggestion of residents and visitors.

After the report ran, the Singapore Red Cross expanded its First Aider on Wheels programme to Pulau Ubin, deploying personnel to the island on public holidays since July 2015, and the second Sunday of every month since March or April 2016.

They are stationed at a first-aid post in the Ubin-HSBC Volunteer Hub.

Last year alone, Red Cross first-aiders attended to 100 to 120 casualties on the island, a spokesperson for the humanitarian agency told TODAY. At least half the cases were cycling-related, and common injuries included abrasions on the elbows and knees.

Less than 5 per cent of these casualties had to be evacuated by the Police Coast Guard to the mainland — some with head injuries from collisions or suspected heart attacks, the Red Cross spokesperson added.

Last year, the Police Coast Guard evacuated 52 casualties from Pulau Ubin to the mainland, up from 46 in 2016. Roughly 60 per cent of these cases last year were involved in cycling-related accidents, a police spokesperson said.

Besides the provision of first aid on the island, Dr Loo from NParks said that various measures have been in place to promote safe cycling.

These include notice boards at the jetty reminding visitors of safe cycling practices, and signs along the trails advising cyclists to dismount and push their bicycles, or to slow down at certain spots.

The island’s bicycle rental shops also offer protective gear, including helmets.

Dr Loo said: “We urge cyclists to exercise personal responsibility by wearing helmets and protective gear, observe signs that apprise them of the difficulty level of the trails and to adopt safe practices.

“Novice and younger cyclists should also be accompanied by experienced, adult cyclists.”

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