Thursday 22 January 2015

Sisters Islands Marine Park home for salvaged corals

The Sisters Islands Marine Park is the forever home of corals salvaged from the Semakau Landfill. Dr Vivian Balakrishnan, Minister for the Environment and Water Resources was at Sisters Islands to mark the relocation and nature groups were invited to the event.
Here's Eugene Goh from DHI, which conducted the relocation, briefing the Minister about the marine life being relocated to the Sisters Islands.


On the shore, the Minister was briefed on the corals relocated to Sisters Islands by Dr Karenne Tun, Deputy Director, Coastal & Marine, National Biodiveristy Centre at NParks.
Photo by Laura Philomin on TODAY Online, 20 Jan 15
Here's an assortment of hard corals rescued from Semakau Landfill, waiting to be placed on reefs at Sisters Islands.
The Minister and his part gather at the sea end to participate in the relocation.
At the sea edge, the Minister hands over a Giant clam rescued from Semakau Landfill for divers to place on the reefs at Sisters Island.
Photo by Laura Philomin on TODAY Online, 20 Jan 15
Over the last few months, divers have worked hard to carefully remove corals found in the Semakau Landfill lagoon.
Photo by NEA on TODAY Online, 20 Jan 15
The rescued corals are eventually placed on their forever home, the reef at Sisters Islands.
Photo by NEA on TODAY Online, 20 Jan 15
Among the amazing finds in the Semakau Landfill lagoon was this Neptune’s Cup Sponge, which was once considered extinct until they were re-discovered in our waters in recent years.
Photo from the NEA Press Release, 21 Jan 15
After the ceremonies, the Minister had a brief look at Sisters Islands. Here, he has found Common sea stars and arranged them into our Singapore flag formation.
He takes a photo of the arrangement. Here's more of Minister's photos of his trip on facebook.
Although we couldn't find an animal to form the cresent moon, we did find a humungous Moon snail.
Oh dear, one of the photographers is pinched by a young flower crab.
The Minister helps release the crab. Once we put the crab in water, it will let go.
The Minister also had a look at some of the awesome creatures that the volunteers and NParks staff had found for the ongoing public walk. Among them, this seahorse!
More about where the corals were relocated from and what this means for Singapore's shore on the wild shores of singapore blog.

Other posts by those on this trip
Media articles about this event

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