Labrador No-Fishing Fishing Check - Jan2012

Are the no fishing signs at Labrador Park and Nature Reserve being followed?

uh, it's a family affair ... mum & 2 sons right beside the formerly 'no' fishing sign ...

(mum was grumbly after she was politely reminded that it was a 'no-fishing' zone. They were slow to pack up but did so after they were politely reminded of the two signs.

There are two prohibitory signs at the lookout point. 

One on the railing and the other high up the lampost above the circular float.

 The more accessible one on the guardrail had some modification done to it by an anonymous hand ... wonder if the prohibition is obvious to all who may be capable of making the right sense

of it through all the fishing lines. Some reading between the lines required (pun intended). 

No matter ...

... if you can't fish on one side, you can always try the other side... 

it all depends on how far you can throw your line.

 but why bother with moving away when you can stay put 

assured that no one will ever give you a ticket

This guy was at the main promenade (no apparent fishing prohibition) and had what seemed to be the longest and biggest rod and he had an unusual technique which required a lot of space ...wonder if he hit any ships? He did not seem to catch anything though. 

The vid clip shows another fisherman in the background with a green sun hat who narrowly misses another park visitor when he carelessly swings his fishing rod's line in the direction of the passing visitor. Good thing the visitor was keeping a proper lookout and avoided the recoiling line, hook and weight in the nick of time.

That's not the whole story ... is there more?

what is left behind during or after all that fishing?

carelessly disposed packaging

discarded bait bags etc waiting for the wind to blow them into the sea

 bait bits ...  stale flesh

discarded line ... no tripping please

 zipties used to hold the rods to the rail

 more discarded packaging

dead fish ... prize or bait?

 sargassum seaweed gets pulled up by many a fisherman
and who dispose of the seaweed on the seawall and sometimes on the footway

 some fishermen occupy the entire viewing platform and make use of the benches for bait preparation

 rod holders secured to the guardrails ... Some guardrails appear to have been damaged by such abnormal use of them.

 more discarded line

 discarded zipties

 more tape and plastic used to secure the rods left behind after the fishermen pack up and leave

another bait preparation park bench 

a wall display ... hmm......

another wall display ... hmm hmm ...



nil desperandum ... C'est la vie

UPDATE :

Relevant recent forum letters :

http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.com/2012/01/anglers-on-newly-opened-berlayar-and.html 

- - -


The prompt response from NParks! Hooray!

Good that NParks is stepping up patrols!

Berlayar Creek - some animal residents - Jan 2012

 Here are some of the animals seen at the Berlayar Creek mangrove :

 a swimming giant mudskipper

 an orb spider tending to its web

Chinese Pond Heron

(in the open field adjacent to the mangrove)

what can you see in this pic of the huge tree?

The tree is located on the Keppel Golf Course beside the Berlayar Creek mangrove.

Can you see a large nest?

And what about a bird? Two birds?

See if you can spot the two white-bellied sea eagles!

here is one :

some other animals seen but not digitised :

plaintain squirrel

white egrets/herons (not sure which species)

kingfishers (not sure which species)

malayan water monitor

There were lots of other small birds pip-pipping and chirp-chirping between the trees.

Another rarely seen animal on the mudflats is the horseshoe crab. See if you can spot if when you visit the mangroves during a low tide day.

Berlayar Creek fishing check walkabout 08Jan2012

Sunday morning was bright and sunny with clear skies. The tide was at its highest at about 2.9m @ about 10am. 

 The high tide presented a different view of the mangroves the flooded forest version where the mud was all covered up and lower leaves of the trees lining the mangrove were partially submerged.

 Lots of people were out having a  wonderful morning walk.

The new coastal walk provided for new vistas previously unavailable. 

There was no one seen fishing on the coastal walk this morning. 

However, there were numerous signs that there had been some fishing earlier. 

Bits of prawn shell and flesh strewn on the walkway... 

ciggarette butts strewn about ready to be blown into the water below 

 more ciggy butts and prawn shells

One of the yellow bags contained empty worm casings which can be purchased from bait shops. 

prawn flesh blobs left on the wooden quardrail.

These stink up the immediate area and will give an unobservant visitor a nasty surprise if one touches it. 

 litter left behind by care-less park visitors ... perhaps there needs to be more litter bins?

or should park visitors be expected to exercise their better judgment to hold on to their trash until they get to either end of the coastal walk? The author is for the less-trash-bins approach but this is obviously presenting problems for some less-capable visitors.

 two partially deflated balloons at the surf's edge - not good for sea turtles!

 old driftnet stuck in the Bukit Chermin seawall

someone has already tried to modify the 'no fishing' sign.

Driftnet (see previous post) and overnight fishing via rod & line seems to have already taken root at the coastal walk.

All this in less than a week from its opening.

Ironical that but for the coastal walk, there would not have been the increased threats of driftnet fishing (well, it used to happen before the boardwalk was created and where the fishermen would abandon their long nets to the waves once they felt no further use of an entangled net), increased litter such as ciggarette butts and an assortment of plastic making its way directly off the boardwalk and into the marine and mangrove ecosystems.

Be careful where you step when you are on the coastal walk...watch out for discarded hooks, lines and bait meat etc. If you are a care-less fisherman, well, you own the walk.

On hindsight, perhaps Berlayar Creek and the Bukit Chermin coast should have been left as it was with no public walkway. This would have better protected the biodiversity of the mangrove creek and coastal shore areas. We are certainly not improving the protection which should be accorded to Singapore's only mangrove within 15 minutes of its Central Business District. How many countries can boast of such a mangrove? It deserves better.