Sadness @ Pulau Jong.....

I was out diving at Pulau Jong for BlueWaterVolunteers ReefFriends reef survey this morning.

And why am I sad? Well.....it's not because that I didn't get to see any nudibranch during the survey dives but this,



We were laying the tape for Transect 3 at the deeper end when we noticed that there were huge amount of large pieces of coral rubble scattering around in piles! Both my buddy and I were wondering what's going on? Why so many "looks like recently dead" corals lying around? Basically almost the entire transect 3 was laid over these rubble.

It was only when we surfaced after finishing Transect 5, we learned from Jeff that it was the same at the shallow end too. OMG! That mean a possible impact area of more than 3m wide by 25m long!

The big picture only came to our sights when we went down to do our Transect 3 & 4, then we get to see how serious the damage is like! It's basically heartbreaking!

Look at all these corals!, They are all been overturned!


This one too!


And this one being slashed!


The Sea Fan was not spare too! :o(

Gosh!!!! What's happening? Why such a large area of damaged corals?!?! From the size of it, Jeff thinks that it might be caused by a big anchor being dragged across or by a barge that run aground.



Besides overturned corals, a couple of corals were also bleaching!

Sigh, the impacts by human-beings directly and indirectly. :o(

On a slightly happier note, Jong still has some nice corals to show us;


and other marine life!




Nudibranch! From top-down : Slender Ceratosoma nudibranch (Ceratosoma gracillimum), Black-margined nudibranch (Glossodoris atromarginata) and various kind of Phyllid nudibranch.


First time seeing a Stinging Sea Urchin (Echinothrix sp.) in local water for me! Usually get to see more of Long-spined Black Sea Urchin.


Here's a closer look at it.



Cute little False Clown Anemonefish and Tomato Anemonefish !


Last but not least, a tiny shrimp on a Red Featherstar.