Collision near the Sisters Islands Marine Park, no oil spill (13 Sep 2017)

Early today (13 Sep 2017), 1.7 nautical miles (3.15km) south-west of Sisters' Island, there was a collision between a dredger JBB De Rong and a tanker Kartika Segara. The dredger sank and as a result, 5 men were missing. MPA reports "There have been no reports of oil spill or disruption to shipping traffic in the Singapore Strait."

Chart from MPA Release on 13 Sep 2017.

This is yet another bullet dodged by the Marine Park. In Aug 2016, there was a collision near the Sisters Islands, between a Very Large Crude Carrier and a container ship. Fortunately, there were no resulting injuries or oil spill.

14 Oct (Sat): FREE workshop on Singapore Celebrates Our Shores 2018

Calling those passionate about Singapore's shores! We need your ideas on how to celebrate our shores for International Year of the Reef 2018.

Join us for this FREE workshop, designed to  be highly interactive. It will include a FREE tour of the awesome Singapore Maritime Gallery! And an introduction to Singapore's marine life by me.

Registrations now open! Tell your like-minded friends about it too!

Exploring Berlayar Creek to Marina at Keppel Bay

An awesome trip this morning to explore shores just steps from an MRT station! I saw an otter!

Next to Labrador MRT station is the Berlayar Creek boardwalk that takes us through mangroves growing there. Strolling along, we get glorious views of Sentosa. Thanks to Jessica and Thong Meng, we got a special look at the amazing corals that have settled at Marina at Keppel Bay.

This trip is part of Singapore Celebrates our Shores 2018 for International Year of the Reef (IYOR). Students from the Raffles Ecological Literacy Programme are looking to write a children's book about our shores. IYOR interns Yue Chin and Frances also helped out at the walk.

Help stop mass balloon event by CDC on 1 Oct (Sun)

Planned for 1 Oct, Run For Good Balloon Run is promising 'a thousand balloons', and a 'balloon invasion'. The 'whole route will be paved with balloons' and participants are encouraged to 'come dressed in balloon outfits'. Their ads suggest that they will be using helium-filled balloons.

The event is ironically a Do Good Initiative co-organised by Central Singapore Community Development Council and Kampong Glam CSC. The organisers say "together, we want to encourage our community to contribute back to society through Healthy Lifestyle habits."

Help persuade the organisers to consider the implications of improperly disposed balloons by leaving a polite and educational comment on their event photo (comments on the event post appears to be moderated) or write to the organisers on their facebook page or contact form. Do suggest wildlife-friendly alternatives to them.

Wild fun for kids during the September school holidays!

Exciting nature activities specially for kids are lined up for the coming school holidays! Free fun ways to discover and enjoy Singapore's biodiversity!

At Sungei Buloh, lots of fun activities for the Wonderful World of Waders celebrations. Also exhibitions, story telling and a walk to learn about our threatened MacRitchie forests. Join an evening mangrove walk at Pasir Ris, come for a demo of prawn and fish harvesting. Also, kids' nature camps, workshops on dragonflies, and MORE!

Terumbu Raya is alive

Thanks to Mei Lin and her team for letting some of us tag along their research trip to Terumbu Raya!

I saw interesting marine life! The corals seem alright, and there are many seagrass patches, although they are heavily covered in ephiphytes.