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Singapore: 05 - 06 December 2010
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Hurray, a bright sunny afternoon as a small team gathers to monitor the seagrasses at Pulau Semakau! Site 1 is easy to do because it mainly has only Enhalus acoroides. There was also a lot of Codium seaweed in our line. But elsewhere on Pulau Semakau there are many other kinds of seagrasses. During our trip, everywhere, the water was dotted with tiny white male flowers of Enhalus acoroides! As we head back after finishing our site, we notice large areas of the shore were full of a fuzzy hairy slimey growth. It smothered seagrasses, corals and other life on the shore. Oh dear. For more pictures and interesting facts visit Team Seagrass Click Here
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It's our last seagrass monitoring for 2010 and a small team heads out for Cyrene yesterday under cloudy skies. We very quickly got to work under threatening skies. Alas, the seagrasses don't seem to be doing too well. On some parts of the shore, the tips of seagrass blades of all species were blackened. Many of the Enhalus acoroides were not only burnt but seemed to be losing their green colour, leaving pale beige blades that seem to be rotting away. On a positive note, I didn't come across large stretches of the fuzzy stuff that we saw on Pulau Semakau the day before and which I saw on Cyrene the month before. Although all the Enhalus acoroides appear chomped off, the other seagrass species were still plentiful and seemed to be doing alright. In the photo below, clumps of Syringodium isoetifolium in the pipefish pool. I looked for and found all the species usually seen on Cyrene, but I couldn't find the patch of Cymododea rotundata. For more pictures and interesting facts visit Team Seagrass Click Here
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Great Keppel Island (Qld, Australia): 04 December 2010
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9th International Seagrass Biology Workshop (ISBW9), Thailand: 26 - 30 November 2010On 26th November, following the WSC, many of the delegates moved to Trang (south Thailand) to participate in the 9th International Seagrass Biology Workshop (ISBW9). Held every 2 years, the ISBW's are a 4 day event which consists of a smaller group of participants, including both international seagrass experts and regional scientists and practitioners, to address problems of seagrass conservation and restoration , which so far are little known across Southeast and South Asia. The bus trip from Phuket to Trang takes about 5 hours, so delegates were treated to lunch at the Pom Khlong Song Nam nature trail (mangrove board walk).
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ISBW9 was held at the Anantara Resort, Si Kao, near Trang. Trang is one of the oldest towns (cities) in Southern Thailand and is surrounded by extensive rubber tree plantations (the first in Thailand) and extensive shrimp ponds. Anantara Resort is located on Yong Lin Beach adjacent to Haad Chao Mai National Park (the location of the 1st international Seagrass-Watch training workshop in 1998). Declared a national park in 1981 to protect the mangroves of the area (which were being harvested for charcoal and knocked down to build shrimp ponds), the park also includes the largest seagrass meadows in Thailand and the largest dugong population in the region. So revered are the dugong, that they are the flagship species of Trang. On the shores of Changlang are dugong sculptures and large billboards on the roadsides of Trang help raise awareness of the importance of seagrass ecosystems and the dugong they support. ISBW9 included delegates from 24 countries and apart from formal presentations, included mini-workshops on approaches to monitoring & managing seagrass in the tropical Asia-Pacific, integrated coastal ecosystem conservation & adaptive management, and restoration of seagrass. The Welcome dinner was a great chance for delegates to meet and network. Apart from the delicious spicy Thai food, a dance by the local school children which was an enjoyable introduction to local Thai culture. An important part of all ISBWs is to also enable participants to experience the seagrass resources of the host country. The ISBW9 excursion involed a visit to Laem Yong Lam, Haad Chao Mai National Park.
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Before visiting the largest seagrass meadow in Thailand, ISBW9 participants visited Morakot Cave (locally known as Tam Nam) (aka the Emerald Cave). Morakot Cave is on the western side of Ko Muk (Island). The cave is an 80m long tunnel and you enter the cave at low tide through a narrow entrance in the cliff face. As you need to swim through the cave tunnel (and there is no light in the middle of the tunnel), the safest way to do that is to form a “train” by holding onto the person or guide in front. The cave emerges into a natural enclosed amphitheatre within the island (some describe as if you are standing in a volcano). The local people used to collect swallow nests from the cave. Later, pirates hid their treasures in the cave until it was safe to move or sell it. After leaving Morakot Cave, ISBW9 participants had lunch on the beach at Ko Muk village. Offshore of the village were extensive meadows of Enhalus acoroides, Halodule uninervis, Thalassia hemprichii and Halophila ovalis. The excursion was completed by visiting the largest seagrass meadow in Thailand at Haad Chao Mai park. Seven species are reported from the area: E. acoroides, H. uninervis and H. ovalis, Cymodocea rotundata, C. serrulata, T. hemprichii and Syringodium isoetifolium. Dugongs are regularly seen in the area and evidence of their feeding (grazing trails) was observed throughout the meadow.
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World Seagrass Conference, Phuket (Thailand): 21 - 25 November 2010Seagrass scientists, coastal managers, students and both government and NGO personnel recently gathered in Phuket for the 2nd World Seagrass Conference (November 21 - 25, 2010). It was an all encompassing international meeting where delegates from 24 countries shared their knowledge and latest research on seagrass ecosystems and how we as a global community can help managed threats to this important resource. The conference included sessions on seagrass biology, plant-animal interactions, ecophysiology, monitoring and conservation, and management and education. The venue was the Club Andaman Beach Resort in Patong (Phuket) and included field trips to Pa Khlok and the Koh Pling Sirinat Marine National park. For more information, visit http://www.sc.psu.ac.th/seagrass/
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Located just south of Phuket airport on the north-western tip of Phuket Island, Sirinat Marine National Park covers an area of aorund 90 square km. The main seagrass and coral is best seen surrounding Nai Yang Island. On arrival at Nai Yang Island, it was pleasing to find Thalassia hemprichii and Cymodocea rotundata meadows covering much of the shallow reef flat to the south. Thalassia hemprichii predominated and looked in pretty good condition, although there were very few invertebrates to be seen. It was soon evident that the area is regularly gleaned with many local vilagers taking advantage of the low tides. Disgarded gill nets and fish traps were also scattered over the intertidal meadow. The Cymodocea rotundata was not looking so great, with nearly 75% cover of epiphytic algae on the leaves. We were all a little shocked however, with the condition of the coral reef. The brochures said "the coral reefs present in the bay are some of the most pristine found in Phuket province", but this was not to be. It was a very sad reef with live coral cover was probably <1%. Much of the coral reef in the area was devistated by the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami and what appears to be more recent bleaching events (with chronic nutrient inputs discharging from the adjacent resorts). It is hoped that this reef which is so important to the subsistence fishery of the area improves in the near future.
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