sgbeachbum

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

croc-a-viper @ sg buloh - march 2014

Spotted an unusual 'S' curve on the water beside a tree through some vegetation. It looked a bit rough. A closer look through the lens confirmed it to be a snake...most likely a mangrove pit viper (a.k.a. shore pit viper). It soon started moving and i saw its head.

This was definitely a pit viper. It must have got caught by the fast rising tide on a low branch and had to take to the water to get to higher wood. It kept swimming to various stems in the water but did not get a snakehold on any of them. After some time on the water surface, it managed to slither up the bark of a small tree. As it moved further up, a small stem with leaves slightly below it moved as well. I did not think that the movement was caused by the snake as it was a rather small snake (about 35 cm long) and was unlikely to cause such movement.

Looking down, i saw an elongated dark log just below the snake. It had not been there before when the snake had started moving up. I then noticed that the dark log had teeth...very sharp teeth. It was quickly obvious that the snake's swimming on the water surface around the tree had caused a perceptible disturbance which alerted the nearby crocodile to investigate.

The croc eyed the viper for a few seconds before opening its mouth targeting the snake. I had initially assumed that the croc had succeeded in ending the viper's earth time as i could not see any trace of the viper after the croc targeted it. The croc moved away to a nearby rut along the waterline.

I wondered if the viper could inflict a bite on the croc. The mangrove pit viper is a highly venomous snake after all.

croc-a-viper from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

(background audio recorded separately on site closeby - dubbed in during editing as mic was switched off during original video recording)

This particular croc is known as the 'Tailless' croc because it was missing its tail after some unfortunate encounter presumably with another croc. 'Tailless' or 'half-a croc' is now one of the larger crocs in the reserve and frequently moves between the main bridge area and the adjacent saltwater pond served by the sluice gate near the main bridge. It was waiting to move from the mangrove into the pond due to the rising tide. Crocs prefer dry land or shallow water to rest in so that they do not have to constantly raise their heads and nostrils above the water to breathe air. They would have to constantly do this if stuck in deeper water.

A few minutes later, I saw the pit viper on a nearby low branch. It appeared fine and must have escaped the croc's jaws. Perhaps there had been a exercise of professional courtesy... between two reptiles with unforgiving personalities.

Read more about these amazing animals :-

http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/reptilia/porosus.htm

http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/snakes/purpureomaculatus.htm
and also about the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve : https://www.sbwr.org.sg

Monday, March 17, 2014

otters teasing a croc @ sg buloh - march 2014

Was at SBWR observing a Striated Heron run about a small island chasing bugs near a large snoozing reptile with sharp pointy teeth when there was a commotion towards the right. The heron had also stopped in its tracks and looked to the right as if with some concern that the tranquility of the morning was about to be interrupted. I panned right to see some dark slithery shapes crawling up the slope.

These were two smooth-coated otters out for a morning (it was about 7.45am) swim through the reserve. The basking saltwater crocodile immediately sprang to life doing a 180' in a split micro-second snapping at one of the otters when it came too close to it. Otters and crocodiles do not share a cordial relationship and frequently gnash teeth at each other.

The two otters, with the smaller one doing most of the work, taunted the crocodile (guesstimate at slightly over 2 m long) repeatedly. Both otters kept 'barking' at the crocodile whilst moving around the crocodile. The larger (quite obviously a male) otter appeared to keep a slightly wider minimum distance from the crocodile as compared to the smaller otter. After getting taunted quite a bit, the crocodile lunged at the closer smaller otter moving about two feet forward in a flash.
otters teasing a croc @ SBWR - March 2014 from SgBeachBum on Vimeo.

Both otters then decided they had had enough and slinkered off to the far side of the island before disappearing under the water submarining (notice the trail of bubbles appearing under the water) further into the northern corner of the pond leaving the crocodile to resume its siesta.

These two otters were first seen about a month before. They have been seen occasionally visiting various seawater and freshwater ponds in the reserve. They seem especially sensitive to human contact and generally stay away from people. This was unlike another lone otter also occasionally seen in the reserve which seemed relatively unbothered when in close proximity to people. There had been a family of 7 otters (2 adults and 5 pups) in the reserve at the start of the year but this family disappeared shortly after the year started. It is possible that the two otters seen in the clip are from that group of five. If so, one might wonder what happened to the rest of that group. The larger male otter had a noticeable wound on the rear right of its tail near its rear right leg. Perhaps that was received from another close encounter with a crocodile.

Read more about these wonderful animals here :
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/verts/smooth_otter.htm
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/mammals/perspicillata.htm
http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/vertebrates/reptilia/porosus.htm
http://www.naturia.per.sg/buloh/birds/Butorides_striatus.htm
and also about the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve : https://www.sbwr.org.sg

Sunday, February 23, 2014

fish farm trash at SBWR @ 23Feb2014

Was heading out of the Sungei Buloh Wetland Reserve at about 6pm with a friend 'Sol' on 23Feb2014 when i saw a suspiciously familiar green printed plastic bag near another large white plastic bag. Could it be another care-less-ly discarded ice bag from an offshore fishfarm?

Given the recent parliamentary interest in such issues, (see http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/specialreports/parliament/videos/offshore-fish-farm-owners/1002002.html), I decided to take a closer look and carefully (looking out for any snakes) descended a little down the embankment near Platform 1 to retrieve the bags.

True enough, the green printed plastic bag was an used JM Ice bag.

(Sol helping to spread out the bag with his shoe on the gravel trail.)

I removed the discarded ice bag from the trail floor and draped around a low branch nearby so the reserve's cleaning contractors could it remove it when they see it.

The other large white plastic bag was tied up with a single knot. It did not take long to look around the first few bags. The large white bag contained several other plastic bags which looked soiled containing reddish and brownish liquid residue and some fish scales. The bags smelled of fish. I'm guessing that these bags had once contained fish. Without wanting to get too dirty, I did not go further tugging at those bags. There was another hint of a green bag in the larger bag. A quick pull showed this for what it was.

It was also a green printed plastic bag had been folded over in the large white bag. This green plastic bag was another JM Ice bag.

It is obvious that Singapore's own western sector offshore fishfarms are not disposing of their trash in a responsible way despite the provision of a large skip tank and a smaller biological waste bin at the Lim Chu Kang jetty.

The site where the bags were found was very close to a large offshore fishfarm where one can see whitish bags piled up at selected corners of the floating pontoons.

If this is a common practice at the offshore fishfarms to use such bags and leave them lying around close to the edge, is it possible that someone discarded the bags over the side instead of bringing them to a centralized collection point at the other end of the pontoon?

The overall trash disposal system seriously needs to be improved. An effective industry-wide solution must be implemented to prevent such occurrences from happening.

Perhaps a trash collection system which services each set of floating fish pens on a daily basis coupled with penalizing provisions for poorly managed fishfarms (leaving unmarked trash too close to the side) will be the best way to cut down such littering.

Or it could mandated that all bags (fish meal, ice and whatever else) and other supplies going to the fish farms must be numbered individually on all sides of the bags and the suppliers and the governing authority keep a record of which numbered bags go to which farms. This would enable better accountability as discarded bags could then be traced and the perpetrators punished for littering the sea. It is extremely difficult to catch such litterbugs and perhaps even more difficult to retrieve the litter once it goes into the sea.

Also, penalties could be imposed where fishfarms are found with bagged supplies which are unnumbered or where farms are spotted with trash items placed to close to the edge risking the items being blown into the surrounding water by the wind (which is not an excuse for such litter by any sense, common or uncommon).

We need to take better care of our coastal environment.

It's up to us to do what we can. Hopefully, the powers-that-be understand the wider implications of the off-shore fishfarm trash issue and work towards trash-free-shores.

So far the position taken by the 'powers-that-be' has been disappointing. Whilst the western offshore fishfarms have a rubbish skip and bin to bring waste to (at the condemnable Lim Chu Kang jetty) (it is in a shocking state of disrepair), the eastern offshore fishfarms (which use Changi Village Ferry Terminal) have not had the benefit of such provision ... ever. So where have the eastern offshore fishfarms dumped the waste generated from their operations all these 10, 20, 30 or more years? Why hasn't anyone done anything about it?

Closeby to where the bags were found, there were a few EPS foam boxes stuck between the mangrove trees. EPS foam boxes are commonly used on the offshore fish farms.

These will break up ravaged by the waves into millions of tiny plastic spheres over time and pollute the coastal environment upon further degradation with microplastics.

The fish we eat deserve microplastic-free waters. Don't we? Since we eat those fish?!
[See these links for information on microplastics - Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4, Link 5, Link 6, Link 7]

Singapore spends millions of dollars to keep mainland Singapore clean. What about our coastal environment?

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/tv/tvshows/sgrevealed/episode

We really need to take better care of our coastal environment.

Monday, February 10, 2014

lim chu kang jetty mangrove-beach @ 02 Feb 2014

Went down to Lim Chu Kang jetty to have a look at the condition of the beach.

After all, it has been some time since the last major cleanup on 10 Aug 2013.

(See these links for the yearly National Day cleanups : 2011, 2012, 2013)

The scene was depressing (as usual and as expected).

Obviously, the current trash disposal arrangements for the offshore fishfarms are insufficient.

This is the large skip tank before the jetty into which all the offshore fishfarms are supposed to dump their general trash. There is a separate smaller bin for biological waste. These are regularly cleared by 'V8 Environmental' under a contract. (I wonder if there was a tender for this??)

The most unsupervised jetty in Singapore...

(Civet cats disappear into woks but that is a different story for another day).

This is at the corner which meets the Police Coast Guard base fence. There was also a lot of trash on the inside of the fence. I doubt anyone clears the trash on either side of the fence.

A fishmeal bag nicely tied up.

There is a huge amount of plastic and expanded polystyrene (EPS foam) accumulated at this corner.

...including some ubiquitous blue chemical drums.

a view of the mangrove shore front. That big black bumper has been there for a few years. It is super heavy.

A makeshift shelter to while away the day.

the path leading to the mangrove shore...

Lots and lots of mainly plastic trash and EPS foam.

more plastic trash and EPS foam.

and even more plastic trash and EPS foam with all kinds of general waste (eg. light bulbs) as well.

the waves bring in more trash. (spot the plastic trash hidden by the fallen leaves)

Fish meal bags are always a common sight on this shore. Where could this have come from? Can we simply blame the Malaysian fish farms for tossing over the side trash and the currents for bringing the trash from Malaysian waters? I think not.... why? There might be some trash coming from across the Straits, but we clearly do have sources much closer to our shores. See the last two pics in this post.

some larger pieces of unwanted trash strewn all over the place.

The smaller blue bin supposedly used for biological waste (eg. dead fish) is seen in front of the much larger general waste skip tank.

NOTE : there is no similar skip tank and separate biological waste bin for the offshore fishfarms operating from Changi Village Jetty.

Are ALL the fish farms using these receptables? Sadly, No. Perhaps some are but not all of them.

The item pictured below seen on the shore is clear that trash from our local fish farms are finding their way into the coastal waters.

What is it?

This is a plastic bag which used in the supply of ice by JM Ice, a local ice supplier.

JM Ice supplies ice to various offshore fish farms using these bags.

Obviously, one of the Singapore offshore fishfarms carelessly disposed of this bag... and it ended up on the shore. (Entirely plausible and it seems to be the most likely explanation though there may be another less likely source of this bag being found on the shore).

It would be unfathomable to think that JM Ice supplies the fishfarms across the Straits of Johor with ice. Is it?

Perhaps a trash collection system serving each of the fishfarms on a regular basis can be implemented for the fishfarms including a proper monitoring system to check on the fishfarms.

There needs to be a better system in place.

We need to take better care of our marine environment.

Thoughtful clips worth watching ...

http://coastalcleanup.wordpress.com/2014/02/07/attenborough-one-of-the-most-important-films-ever-made-away-a-film-about-plastic-pollution-in-oceans/

http://coastalcleanup.wordpress.com/2013/11/25/every-little-bit-adds-up-an-encouraging-two-minute-video-to-keep-our-waterways-clean/

http://coastalcleanup.wordpress.com/2014/02/10/the-curse-of-plastics-in-beautiful-norway-as-much-as-it-is-everywhere/

Find out more about the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore fight to keep Singapore's shores clean : http://coastalcleanup.nus.edu.sg/index.html

http://coastalcleanup.wordpress.com/

Saturday, February 1, 2014

semakau seagrass lagoon @ 01Feb2014

Went on a short boat ride looking for oil from the recent ship collisions.
(see Link 1, 2)

On the way to Semakau, ...

Bukom's southern seawall seems to have some dark banding indicative of an oil-spill. The brown spots could be some other localised spill. Wonder what could have caused those spots.

The bad news is that Semakau's northern shore may have had some exposure to some of the oil-spill. There was a distinct dark line on the seawall.

Whilst the others in the recce went to explore the Northern shore and Terumbu Semakau, I went Westwards along the seagrass lagoon.

The good news is that it looks like Semakau's seagrass lagoon was clear of oil. The seagrass lagoon and shore were 'normal'. No oil seen on the inter-tidal area, shore or on the fringing mangrove trees. That is a good sign.

'Normal' however means a whole lot of trash on the high shore line. Lots of plastic items which had floated in with the tides over many many years still line the shore.

note the styrofoam box high in the tree

a 3 foot long fluorescent light bulb

bundles of rope

an SPC oil drum

a plastic road barrier

a huge piece of blue plastic sheeting

an old sofa

one of the gazillion mineral water cups and water bottles

a large prawn feed bag

This was a balloon stuck high up on a mangrove tree.

We really should take better care of our marine environment.

At the southern end of the seagrass lagoon, lots was happening.

This chap had harvested quite a few large mud crabs from the mangrove inlet.

Another few were harvesting shells from the inter-tidal zone whilst another laid out a long driftnet on the inter-tidal zone.

A ciggarette butt was care-less-ly dropped in the water.

A quick chat with one of them showed them to be contractors at the landfill site out to gather a quick seafood dinner.

They promptly agreed to return their haul to the lagoon and to recover the driftnet that was being laid out.

No fan clam soup tonight.

The men soon left in their vehicles parked atop the service road.

The mud-crabs were however not released. Looks like crab curry tonight.

There were two long driftnets long abandoned at the South-Western tip of the seagrass lagoon. These looked like they had been on the inter-tidal for some time. (There was a third driftnet at the Northern part of the seagrass lagoon.)