The Singapore Navy’s Naval Diving Unit turned up at Pulau Semakau on 30 Oct 2009 for Project Eco-Frog as part of their CSR effort for 2009.

96 NDU staff came ‘ashore’ on the NEA slipway via an open-top fast utility vessel.

Within minutes of the impressive landing, an operations command centre complete with medic station was set up and the various special focus teams (diving and shore) got busy with their CleanUp preparations.

Whilst some of the teams took turns to attend the landfill tour and video presentation by the ever-ready and friendly NEA Semakau operations staff, the diving teams un-rolled their zodiac inflatables which were duly filled with air and fitted with outboard motors and in no time at all, the boats were ready and in the water by the slipway.

The shore teams proceeded with the landfill tour and thereafter went straight for the Northern shore through the forest trail. There is an incredible amount of ‘marine’ trash which has accumulated on the Semakau shore over the years. These items do not originate from the landfill being operated by the National Environment Agency on Semakau but arrive as flotsam after being carried on visiting tides and ocean currents to the Semakau shore.  Some items have become buried in the sand over the years or have been blown by the coastal winds further inland to become lodged below the dense vegetation of the coastal shrubs and trees.

Although the tide was rather high at about 2.0m at 10am, the shore teams managed to make swift work of the strand line debris. These encompass plastic bottles, glass beverage bottles both whole or broken in pieces, detergent or chemical containers, styrofoam bits, plastic sheeting, tires, abandoned fishing nets, food wrapping, and various other mainly plastic material which have floated in with the daily tides.

Care had to be taken navigating the shore as there were occasional broken glass pieces amongst the pebbles and rocks. Some areas also had an unusually high concentration of wooden material which seemed to blanket the natural shore thus preventing the growth of mangrove vegetation.  Many of the wooden planks had rusty nails in them and so these were removed as well as they posed a safety concern to anyone walking on the shore.

The diving teams had some success at their dive sites just off Semakau’s amazing seagrass lagoon and the reef fringing it although the particular sites showed no significant build up of debris. Hopefully, the rest of Semakau’s deeper waters are in just as good a condition. Their condition can only be ascertained after further dive recce trips.

All the bagged items were removed by the zodiacs from the shore direct to the slipway. This proved a much more efficient way of transferring the trash. The alternative would involve carrying the numerous heavy bags a long long walk down the shore and through the forest trail to the landfill service road.

In total, Project Eco-Frog saw 96 staff removing 96 trash bags filled with 455 kg of waste material in about 1.5 hours. This was enough to fill the NEA bulldozer’s grab!

This is indeed a great first effort and will go some way towards ensuring that the Semakau shore is better looked after and its various interrelated ecosystem components will continue to thrive for years to come.

Thank you NDU!

Related links:

• http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2009/10/tackling-trash-on-semakaus-northern.html
• http://www.wildsingapore.com/places/semakau.htm

On 5th April 2009, the Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research was engaged by Deutsche Bank to organise a coastal cleanup activity at St. John’s island.

In due with the program, a guided walk was conducted to let the participants understand more about the coastal and mangrove fauna and flora that can be found on this island. Here is Ron, one of the guide and team leader showing them the sea hibiscus plant. 

The 38 enthusiastic participants wasted no time when the cleanup starts. Even though the area covered are just two small patches of mangrove and beach, lots of rubbish were found trapped among the roots and mud. 

One even managed to find a huge Styrofoam block out of the vegetation. 

After the cleanup, the trash bags were weighed and recorded. Thanks to the hard work of the participants, they managed to collected about 200 kg of rubbish with a total of around 800 items in just a short hour!

A tiring day out in the scorching sun. Nevertheless, everyone was in high spirits knowing that they have contributed their bit to the environment.

By Teo Siyang, Education and Research Officer, Raffles Museum of Biodiversity Research, NUS.

Posted via email from International Coastal Cleanup Singapore

After a flurry of emails the past couple of weeks between Anand (Miss Earth liason), Dewi (LCK Site Captain) and myself, we were really pleased to be heading down at Lim Chu Kang mangroves this morning. It was a pleasant journey spent chatting with the Miss Earth ladies and the nature/environment volunteers who came, including some of the ICCS organisers. We reached Lim Chu Kang road end at about 8.30am, and kept the fishermen and the military boys company for the morning.

The team comprised of Miss Earth Singapore contestants, Eco magazine writers who came long to interview them, and nature and environment volunteers from various groups in Singapore. Everyone toiled with good cheer and industry, working well together and removed more than 250kg of trash and bulky items relieving the mangrove of a considerable load.

Though we had meant to keep to the beach, several of us began venturing into the periphery of the mangroves which the trash line straddles. A lot more trash still persists but we will tackle this slowly and steadily over the next few years.

A large number of plastic bags were half buried in the sand and mud. This is due to the lack of frequent cleanups which allow the accreting sand to bury over time.

Another prominent item were ghost nets. One had trapped a couple of horseshoe crabs and we released the one that was still alive – it took quick work with a scissors brought specifically for such situations.

We were unable to remove most of the nets which had been half-buried. These posed less of a danger than fresh ghost nets so we will return another day with the proper set of tools to tackle these.

The biologists and naturalists present introduced some examples of mangrove life to the group – crabs, onchidiums, drills and other snails, mangrove plants and the horseshoe crab we saved. I took the opportunity to also chat with the ICCS organisers who had joined us that day – it was a relaxing session for them as it was worry free – unlike their ICCS session in September!

The mangrove introduction session also served as a rest and water break before we started hauling out the accumulated trash to the bin site. As we worked, the tide and rain clouds arrived at Lim Chu Kang. However, many hands made light work and the trash was directed out quickly for weighing and a final toss into the bin.

As we waited for the bus, we relaxed, changed and chatted. Major Gene Tan who had dropped in on the SAF guys on duty at Lim Chu Kang complimented us on the morning’s work – and asked us to come more often He says the plastic was also a potential dengue threat and was appreciative of cleaned beach. We were certainly satisfied by the our morning’s work!

A bunch of Toddycats returned to NUS with the participant’s used gloves and employed our limnologists’ tubs to remove the excess mud – familiar work for Marcus, Dewi and Dongrong (ICCS-NUS)!

The rinsed and wrung out gloves were laid out to dry in the hot sun and were turned over after lunch to get dry and toasty. And the normally operationally-fixated Toddycats did remember to take a group photo this time!

As Anand, Airani and I flipped through the photos over a cup of coffee later at the Science Canteen, we agreed that the Miss Earth contestants we had worked with were a cooperative and enthusiastic bunch who were not afraid to get their fingers dirty – literally, for we had to remind them to keep their gloves as we were hauling trash out at the end!

Its good to know we have them out there as environmental ambassadors and the Toddycats wish them all the best in the year of activities ahead of them!

Photos by Airani.

• All the photos from Airani – photo gallery or Flickr.
• “Beauties in boot(ie)s,” by Marcus Ng. The annotated budak, 19 Jul 2008.

The Mission:
Lim Chu Kang mangroves is a beautiful and unique patch of unprotected mangrove in Singapore, facing the Western Straits of Johor. It is adjacent to a Police Coast Guard base and offshore, kelongs and fish farms unload their produce at the jetty to send to markets in Singapore.

During a recent research trip, the amount of marine debris observed has reached an intolerable amount – plastic bags are hanging off trees and mudskippers are resting on plastic. A bunch of environment and nature volunteers have responded to the call and are intent on making a dent to the debris load on the beach.

The Team:

• Nature/Environment volunteers (20): Cheng Chee Hoew, Alison Wee, Robert Heigermoser, Teo Kah Ming, Nicholas Koh Yong Zhi, Joelle Lai, Marcus Ng Fu Chuan, Zhang Dongrong, Marcus Tay Guan Hock, Laurine Wong, Airani, Esther Clews, Steve Ong Choon Siong, Tan Mei Jun, Janice Lee, Dew Anggraini, Anand Ramchand, Kelly Ong, Rain Siow Xiu Juan & N. Sivasothi.
• Volunteers from Ms Earth Singapore (Finalists, 13): Alethea Jane Seet, Loren Xue, Lynn Lim, Silver Zhang, Swati Dhir, Leow Yi Jin, Kang Zilei, Jas Chu, Lin Siqi, Wendy Chong, Yen Wu Ling, Yun Tang and Ivy Leow.
• Ms Earth Organisers and Photographers (4) – Vivien, Kelvin, Chia Hsien & Thomas.
• Eco Magazine (4) – Yihan, Ibnur, Gavin and Tiffany.

Itinerary (approximate):

• 0745 – bus pick-up from Clementi MRT
• 0830 – reach LCK, distribute into sub-groups, apply insect repellent, collect gloves and trash bags.
• 0845 – Briefing, Trash Loading Point (TLP) and bus shelter pointed out, wet weather plan (carry on unless lightning threat)
• 0900 – cleanup begins.
• 1000 – Loading teams start moving trash out to TLP
• 1030 – clean-up ends, weigh trash and discuss the most common items found, Q&A
• 1045 – participants clean themselves up – note no washing point!
• 1100 – Bus returns to Clementi, NUS – help needed to wash gloves in NUS so join us if you can!

What we will provide:

1. Transport to site.
2. Gloves.
3. Trash bags.
4. Weighing scales.

What you should bring:

1. Covered shoes with hard soles.
2. Water bottle (at least one litre of water).
3. Hat and/or sun block.
4. Raincoat/ponco (we’ll carry on working in rain)
5. Towel in a bag – to wipe off any sand and mud off you.
6. Suggestion – dry fit clothes are suitable for this work. If you prefer cotton, a change of t-shirt will come in handy after a sweaty workout.
7. Light pants will help protect your legs from insect bites (if you re the sort that gets bitten) as well as from the debris.

Transport:

Registered participants are to meet us at either

1. the NUS bus stop outside Science Drive 1 (7.30am; meet Siva) or
2. the bus stop AFTER Clementi MRT Station heading west (7.45am; meet Dewi and Anand).

See below:

7.30am Pick Up Point – Meet N. Sivasothi

7.45am Pick up Point – Meet Anand Ramchand
& Dewi Anggraini.

Tides:

Bus route

Driving?
Meet us at Lim Chu Kang Road end
Parking available

The 39th batch of SAF’s Command and Staff Course (SCSC) conducted a coastal cleanup on 24th May 2008 at Pasir Ris. 125 regulars from the army, navy and air force together with their overseas classmates and their families removed marine debris from a 1,500 metre stretch of Pasir Ris Beach Areas 3 and 4. Working between 0930 to 1030, they amassed a total of 62 bags weighing a total of 1,142kg of trash!

Micky Ng reports – “We are amazed at the amount of trash that we collected in just 60mins.”

Excellent work SCSC; it’s great to see the leadership extend to the environment too!

13 May 2008 – Wendy Dwyer reports, “The USA Girl Scouts Organization in Singapore held a beach clean-up campaign at Camp Christine on May 2nd and 3rd of 2008. More than 120 girls and parents participated in this effort that bagged more than eight large trash bags filled with debris, weighing a total of 250 kg. The area covered was 50 meters of shoreline.”

Congratulations USA Girls Scouts in Singapore!