Launch of Private Lives Exposé of Singapore's Coral Reefs!
Celebrating Singapore Shores!
Singapore Bird Report – May 2019
Singapore Bird Group
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Best of our wild blogs: 1 Jul 19
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Oil patches cleaned up from East Coast Park beach, water quality remains normal
Goh Yan Han Straits Times 30 Jun 19;
SINGAPORE - Patches of oil were seen on the shoreline at a section of East Coast Park on Saturday (June 29).
The Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA) said that it received a report at 8.04am that there was a smell of oil off East Coast Park.
It immediately dispatched its patrol craft to the seaward side of the reported area to investigate, as well as began cleaning up the small patch of oil sighted off the park's carpark C.
In response to queries from The Straits Times, an MPA spokesman said that the source of the oil spill is unknown, as there was no report of an oil spill incident prior to Saturday's incident.
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Malaysia, Johor: Breathing difficulties, nausea, vomiting return to Pasir Gudang
Kalbana Perimbanayagam New Straits Times 30 Jun 19;
PASIR GUDANG: As classes here resumed today, some 130 students from 15 schools experienced breathing difficulties, nausea and vomiting, similar to the incident 10 days ago which involved 18 schools in the district, caused by pollution.
Today’s incident also saw three teachers including SK Kopok's headmistress being affected.
A total of 23 pupils from SK Kopok were among the 130 who fell sick just hours after the morning school session began. However, only 30 were sent for further health screenings at the Masai and Pasir Gudang health clinics.
The other students who showed less severe reaction to the pollution /allergy were given first aid and allowed to go home.
Classes continued as usual for the other students, including some 46 special needs students at SK Kopok and other schools in the district.
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Malaysia: Sabah's anti-poaching efforts boosted with RM4mil donation
muguntan vanar The Star 30 Jun 19;
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Forestry Department's special "Protect Team" – aimed at wiping out poachers and traffickers threatening the state's iconic wildlife species – has been given a boost with an RM4mil donation from the Sime Darby Foundation.
This is part of the state's renewed effort to eradicate poaching and wildlife trafficking by having more enforcement on the ground.
The injection will allow an increase in the number of enforcers and jump start the implementation of the three State Action Plans 2019-2028 for the protection of Bornean banteng (wild cattle), Sunda clouded leopard and proboscis monkey, launched late last year by state Tourism, Culture, and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew.
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Indonesia to welcome back endemic snake-necked turtles
The Jakarta Post 30 Jun 19;
The “repatriation” is to be conducted through a reintroduction program run by the Wildlife Conservation Society Indonesia Program (WCS-IP) and Wildlife Reserve Singapore.
The turtles, which are to be shipped to Indonesia in the next couple of months, have been bred by organizations in a number of countries, including the United States and Austria. Some 26 individuals bred in the US and Austria are now being kept in the Singapore Zoo. However, how many of those are to be sent to their natural habitat in their ancestral home is still under negotiation, Timbul Batubara, the head of the East Nusa Tenggara Resource Conservation Center (BBKSDA), said on Saturday.
The species, called the Roti Island snake-necked turtle, is on the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list and is categorized as critically endangered. Roti Island is another name for Rote Island.
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Best of our wild blogs: 30 Jun 19
Morning Walk At Dairy Farm Nature Park (29 Jun 2019)
Beetles@SG BLOG
The Bamboo Feeders (Part 2)
Butterflies of Singapore
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Floating wetlands in Pulau Ubin to be expanded, more amenities for wheelchair users
Felicia Choo Straits Times 29 Jun 19;
SINGAPORE - Bird enthusiasts and nature lovers will soon have more to enjoy in Pulau Ubin, where floating wetlands will be vastly expanded to provide more habitats for various species of migratory birds.
The mangroves at abandoned aquaculture ponds in the south-eastern part of the island will also be restored.
These are part of plans announced by the National Parks Board (NParks) on Saturday, which will also see improved accessibility to Pulau Ubin for wheelchair users.
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New MPA database to promote better use of Singapore waters
Zhaki Abdullah Straits Times 29 Jun 19;
A new database on Singapore's waters, from its coastlines to the seabed, was launched yesterday by the Maritime and Port Authority of Singapore (MPA).
Dubbed GeoSpace-Sea, it aims to provide comprehensive geospatial data for port and coastal planning, among other things, as well as environmental management.
"It will be something like the SLA's (Singapore Land Authority's) OneMap," said MPA deputy chief hydrographer Jamie Chen, referring to the map service which will provide geospatial data as well as land ownership information.
The MPA's database will help Singapore's waters be used and developed in a safe and sustainable manner, he added.
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Singapore bans bottled water from Malaysia's Malee Mineral Water after bacteria found
Channel NewsAsia 28 Jun 19;
SINGAPORE: The import of all bottled drinking and mineral water from Malee Mineral Water has been banned with immediate effect after bacteria was detected in recent consignments.
The Singapore Food Agency (SFA) announced this in a circular addressed to all bottled water importers on its website on Friday (Jun 28).
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Malaysia, Johor: 'Authorities must determine safe range in Pasir Gudang'
New Straits Times 29 Jun 19;
PASIR GUDANG: Medical experts have urged the authorities to ascertain the concentration level of the ‘anomalous’ gases foundin Pasir Gudang atmosphere.
This ratio, they believe, is the key towards determining the “safe range”, or whether residents have to exercise additional precautionary measures.
Dr Ravindran R. Naidu, who is former president of the Malaysian Medical Association, said the three gases detected in named by the authorities as being present in the Pasir Gudang air should not be treated lightly.
He said the gases, if found in large quantities, could pose not just immediate problems, but also severe respiratory issues.
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Indonesia, Kalimantan: Land fires hit East Kotawaringin
Antara 29 Jun 19;
Sampit, C Kalimantan (ANTARA) - Land fires began in East Kotawaringin District, Central Kalimantan, as less rain fell in the past week to make the dry land flammable.
"Today we are putting out land fires that have occurred in an area of about 50x100 meters with an area burned (into the ground) around 20x10 meters," said Head of the East Kotawaringin Fire and Rescue Service, Rihel, in Sampit Saturday. A fire was spotted on Walter Hugo Street, Baamang Barat Village, Baamang District. The location of the burned land is still within the area of Sampit City.
A team of eight firefighters was immediately dispatched to the location after public reports. Although the burning area is an empty field full of weeds, the prompt response of the firefighters helped to quickly bring the fire under control.
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Staying in Jakarta: Will a great sea wall protect Indonesia's capital from coastal flooding?
Stania Puspa Channel NewsAsia 29 Jun 19;
JAKARTA: For those living in North Jakarta, regular coastal flooding is a fact of life.
Entire communities are inundated, usually in the middle of the month, as the sea level rises around the full moon period. Residents of Kaliadem in Penjaringan, North Jakarta, simply refer to coastal flooding using the Javanese word “rob”.
“(A) big cycle (of flooding) comes once every three months,” said local citizen Bani Sadar when interviewed by CNA.
“Sometimes, it’s a moderate flood, sometimes it’s a big flood. We have (in the past) experienced five days of flooding in a row.”
In the middle of May this year, seawater flooded Mr Sadar’s house. The water level was up to his ankle.
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