Category Archives: coastal cleanup

Happy National Day from mangrove cleanup volunteers!

Read about the 2016 Pre National Day Mangrove Cleanup at the ICCS blog.

Celebrate National Day with a coastal cleanup @ Lim Chu Kang beach and mangrove

Every year, volunteers with the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore (ICCS) celebrate National Day with a coastal cleanup @ Lim Chu Kang beach and mangrove. This year we will be working on Saturday 6th Aug 2016: 8.00am – 10.30am.

To join us, Sign up here by 1st August 2016!
Transport will be provided from Kranji MRT to the cleanup site @ Lim Chu Kang beach and mangrove

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For more details, see the ICCS blog.

Toddycats @ Pesta Ubin 2016 (Part I): A Celebration of Singapore’s Marine Biodiversity and a plea to Reduce our Plastic Footprint

As in previous years, we’ve come together and contributed to a couple of events for the Pesta Ubin 2016 calendar!

This year Ubin Day has morphed from one weekend of short-lived fun into a month-long festival from 14 May to 12 June (Pesta means Festival in Malay). It was designed to celebrate Ubin’s kampong lifestyle, the Ubin Way, and its value as a nature refuge and to offer the public a glimpse of our past heritage.

Despite the rain, the booths from various local NGOs received a strong showing from the public. About 3000 visitors came to soak in the festive mood by participating in the myriad of events and informative booths. The celebratory atmosphere was buoyed by kampong games such as capteh and hopscotch. Activities such as cycling, kayaking and coastal clean-ups were made available too.

It was a delight to educate and raise awareness of the importance of conserving our local marine biodiversity in Singapore. Ten specimens on loan from the Lee Kong Chian Natural History Museum were chosen to highlight some examples of marine life found on our shores and the disastrous after-effects of littering, boat crashes, illegal fishing and the importance of conserving our local biodiversity.

Our specimens from LKCNHM included a baby dugong, a dog-faced water snake, a giant mudskipper, an Asian small-clawed otter, shells from various local marine clams and snails, a black-tipped reef shark, a tree-climbing crab, a hawksbill turtle and seahorses. Pictures of our sperm whale, Jubilee, were also on display to highlight the imminent threat that plastics can have on sea creatures, even on large ones like whales. Our local marine biodiversity too is not immune to this global crisis of plastic waste.

There are four ways in which marine life is impacted by plastic littering:  strangulation of animals from entanglement, ingestion of plastics when animals mistake it for food, bioaccumulation when young fish or crustaceans eat micro-plastics (microbeads found in face-wash products) and the leakage of toxic pollutants into the ocean as plastics slowly degrade.

Minister for National Development, Mr Lawrence Wong, and Senior Minister of State, Mr Desmond Lee, graced the event as our guests of honour. Mr Wong announced that by mid 2017, the National Parks Board (NParks) would take on the role of central management agency and be in sole charge of managing Ubin.

In his speech, Mr Wong also highlighted several books launched in celebration of Ubin such as “Footprints on an Island: Rediscovering Pulau Ubin” by Chua Ee Kiam, Choo Mui Eng and Wong Tuan Wah and “Hunt for the Green Boomerang” by Neil Humphreys.

Apart from the humans, other living creatures such as the oriental-pied hornbills and green imperial pigeons were also in attendance during the event. Their presence further illustrates that Ubin continues to be a birdwatcher’s paradise and an important refuge for threatened species. Even Ubin’s friendly resident stray dogs came to pay a visit and provided great company.

The children had their fair share of activities to take part in and be excited about as well! We organised a badge-making session which kept the children thoroughly entertained in creating their very own badges, giving them a colourful experience and a sense of pride in putting their creativity to good use.

To conclude, Pesta Ubin was a celebration of all things nature and our kampong roots. If our heritage in Pulau Ubin is lost, we would not only lose our window into the past, but something more significant – our identity with nature. Our local biodiversity may be resilient but if we are not mindful to reduce our carbon footprint and protect our environment, we may stand to lose much of our precious Earth.

For more pictures, view our Flickr album!

 

Year Round Coastal Cleanups by the ICCS Otters!

Every year, the ICCS Otters coordinate the annual International Coastal Cleanup Singapore, held on the 3rd Saturday of every September. This event brings together some 3,500 individuals every year from all around our island, all with a desire to do rid our beaches and mangroves of marine trash! 

Besides the annual cleanup, we also organise Year-Round Coastal Cleanups (YRCCs) at various coastal locations around the island to relieve many of these habitats of trash.

Many of these non-recreational beaches and mangroves hold a vast amount of biodiversity despite their heavy trash load, and coastal cleanups play a role in protecting marine life from hazardous trash. These cleanups also provide an insight to participants about the extent of trash deposited in our ecosystems, a such scenes are often shielded from the eyes of everyday Singaporeans.

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Taken during the Earth Day Coastal Cleanup – 18 Apr 2015

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Taken during “Operation WE (coastal) Clean Up!” – 3 May 2015

By May this year, ICCS has organised 5 YRCCs, reaching out 245 volunteers altogether. These include:

  1. Chinese New Year Coastal Cleanup @ Tanah Merah 7 beach (TM7)(NUS RVRC) – Sat 26 Feb 2015: 8.00pm – 12.00pm [prep 1/2; prep 2/2; report 1/3; report 2/3; report 3/3]
  2. World Water Day Coastal Cleanup @ Sungei Pandan mangrove (SP2)(open to public) – Sat 21 Mar 2015: 4.00pm – 6.00pm [announcement; recce; report 1/2; report 2/2]
  3. Earth Day Coastal Cleanup @ Pasir Ris 6 Beach (open to public) – Sat 18 Apr 2015: 4.00pm – 6.00pm [announcement; recce; report]
  4. “Operation WE (coastal) Clean Up!” @ Lim Chu Kang Beach (open to public) – Sun 3 May 2015: 4.00pm – 6.00pm [announcement; report]
  5. World Biodiversity Day Coastal Cleanup @ Lim Chu Kang Beach (open to public) – Sat 16 May 2015: 4.00pm – 6.00pm [announcement; report]

We’ve still got a full calendar ahead of us in the next few months, and if you’d like to join our efforts in the fight against marine trash, mark these dates down! Do look out for an announcement with detailed information on the event and a sign up sheet that we release two weeks before every cleanup.

  1. World Environment Day Coastal Cleanup @ Tanah Merah Beach 7 (open to public) – Sat 06 Jun 2015: 8.00am – 12.00pm [announcement]
  2. Youth Day Coastal Cleanup  @ Sungei Pandan (open to public) – 1 Sat 11 Jul 2015: 12.00pm – 2.00pm
  3. National Day Coastal Cleanup @ Lim Chu Kang beach & mangrove (open to public) – Fri 07 Aug 2015: 8.00am – 12.00pm

Join a group of passionate individuals determined to make a difference in the environment! To keep updated of all our events, do follow us on Facebook (fb.com/iccsg) and our blog, or join our mailing list!

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Taken during the World Biodiversity Day Coastal Cleanup – 18 May 2015.

Ready to tackle the Kranji East Mangrove coastal cleanup this Saturday?

Dear Toddycats and Independents,

Thank you for your patience in waiting for this email. Please read this carefully and write me immediately if you have any questions; thanks!

We meet at 7.40am this Saturday
This Saturday, we will be meeting at Kranji Reservoir Car Park A at 7.40am (map attached) to be briefed and suited up for the work. I appreciate very much that you are waking up early on a Saturday for this!

We expect to finish by 12.00pm.

ICCS Kranji East mangrove cleanup on Sat 21 Sep 2013

Transport
Transport is available from the following places/times:

  • 7.00am – Dover MRT (westward, same side as polytechnic)
  • 7.30am – Kranji MRT (bus stop adjacent to MRT)
  • 12.00pm – Bus leaves for Kranji and Clementi MRT

Please let me know to expect you here: http://tinyurl.com/iccs-kranjieast-pickup

No heroics during the cleanup!
Kranji East is a tough site with difficult and limited access. Do be guided by your site captains. We will work carefully, and at a slow and steady rate. And we will leave the heavy bulky items behind.

Who we work with
We are about 50 in number and we will work with:

  • FMC Technologies (20 volunteers)
  • Jurong Secondary School (40)
  • North Vista Secondary ODAC (35)

This is some 145 in all, a good balance between impact and effectiveness.

A hand with the trash!
We need to leave the trash near the road, so we will hire a pickup to transport trash bags from the Trash Collection Point (TCP) to the Trash Disposal Point (TDP; see map) – less back breaking work for us!

Be prepared!

  • Sleep early the night before and hydrate – for better performance, enjoyment of the morning and fewer mistakes.
  • Set your alarm to wake up on time – we can’t wait for latecomers
  • Have a decent breakfast – it will be a workout!

What to bring

  • Covered shoes with hard soles – hard-soled booties are fine.
  • Water bottle (more than one litre of water).
  • Hat and/or sun block.
  • Raincoat/ponco (we will carry on working in rain but stop for lightning or a heavy storm)
  • Towel in a bag – to wipe off any sand and mud off you.
  • Some water to wipe yourself down with, even with a water point in the vicinity.
  • A change of t-shirt is a great relief after the sweaty workout.
  • Pants to protect your legs from insect bites.
  • Water-proof your belongings.

Itinerary

  • 7.00am – Dover MRT
  • 7.30am – Kranji MRT
  • 7.40am – Meeting Point at Kranji Reservoir Car Park A
    • Briefing, safety, wet weather plan, insect repellent application
  • 8.00am – cleanup begins
  • 8.30am – Loading and Weighing teams begin work
  • 9.30am – Data collection ends – be responsive to Site Captains.
    • Data consolidation
    • Weighing at TCP until completed
    • Trash moved from TCP to TDP – vehicle assisted.
  • 11.00am – Cleanup ends; participants wipe down and wash up.
  • 12.00pm – We all leave – a bus from the carpark will leave from Kranji MRT and Clementi MRT.

We are looking forward to working with and being inspired by you. Have a restful week everyone!

Cheerio!

Sivasothi aka Otterman
with Joelle Lai (Organiser, Raffles Museum Toddycats) and Adriane Lee (Dy Zone Captain, North West Zone, ICCS)


Raffles Museum Toddycats
http://toddycats.rafflesmuseum.net/