Saturday, August 2, 2008

'Singapore got reef meh?'

Ask a random person off orchard road / your neighbourhood and watch their response to the question: 'What do you think of Singapore's coral reefs?'

The answer you'd get is likely to be

'Singapore got reef meh?'

Many singaporeans aren't aware that there exists any life in the mucky waters surrounding our wonderfully small island. The very idea of a living kicking coral reef is practically unheard of. (Oh yes, the huge concern about overpopulation and associated housing problems. where will we house the corals?)



Beautiful pristine reefs?
In mucky Singapore waters?

Fortunately, nature is more generous than people give her credit for. Even in muddy Singapore waters, one can find amazing reef habitats and reef life. (Although they are much stressed out by the mud. Can you live happily while covered with mud? Some people I know don't even want to live with grass.)

Singapore's reef is small. As with our sunny island, it represents a very small fraction of total coral reef area (<0.001% of total reef area in SEA). Before anyone looks down on the extremely small figure, it is important to note that we also have immense biodiversity on the little patch we call our own, more than 60% of species found in South East Asia. (HA! Take that!) The reefs in the seas around Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore are all fringing reefs. These kind of reefs occurs in shallow water near the shore. These reefs form a border between the island and the sea. The upside of this is that when there is a tsunami about to wipe out a fraction of our population, the reefs take much of the damage for us and keep us relatively safe. (Being surrounded by Malaysia and Indonesia seems to lessen the dangers of a tsunami in Singapore, but please don't let that be the reason for complacency) As an added benefit, one can put on a snorkle and mask, wade out from the beach and swim around the reef (chasing clownfishes and begging for a joke)



Singapore's reefs face a threat that all locals will be very familiar with: land reclamation. Land reclamation is a very useful method in increasing land space on a small island surrounded by relatively shallow waters! Add lots and lots and lots of sand into the shallow parts of the sea until they are higher than sea level and hey presto! More land to use.

What happens then? Corals don't spontaenously sprout legs and walk away from the sandstorm, so Of course there's no reef left! (none left, unless you want to dig under all the sand to extract their squashed skeletons. trust me, these buried reefs won't turn into oil fields anytime soon, and no they wont produce enough oil to power Singapore for more than 5 minutes)

So land reclamation has been going on, and yet there are still reefs in Singapore! Here is where we thank our lucky stars that land reclaimation techonologies have their limitations. Land reclamation projects haven't reclaimed ALL of Singapore's waters, and so haven't massacred all of our beloved reefs.

What's remaining?







Yes, taken here in Singapore! And people can go and swim there, and see all of it for themselves. (And you should do it or do something about it soon, or all you get are these pretty virtual pictures)

'Singapore got reef meh?'
Now you all know better

(Photos by Ms Karenne Tun)

Jacque and Theophilus finished work at 1:53 PM

______________________________

the marine junkies
Jacque and Theophilus
18071990 / 28081990
NUS High School
NUS Marine Biology Labs

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reefmealone@gmail.com

thanks
Nudibranchs drawn by Prof. Chou
(hand drawn! wow!)
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