The Straits Times 3 Jun 06
'Marine sanctuary' plan for Pulau Hantu dropped
by Radha Basu

Conservationists fear more damage than good will be done to the reefs.

Plans to create a 'filtered' coral reef on Pulau Hantu -- touted as Singapore's most ambitious and innovative marine conservation project -- have been scrapped after opposition from an unlikely quarter: conservationists themselves.

The move was sparked by fears from at least two conservation groups and scores of nature bloggers that the project was simply a way for dive companies to make money and would end up ravaging rather than reviving the reefs.

Project Noah (Nurturing Our Aquatic Heritage) was devised by the Singapore Underwater Federation (SUF), the Singapore Environment Council (SEC) and the Nature Society Singapore (NSS).

Its aim was to create a 'marine sanctuary' by installing mechanical filters around a strip of lagoon off Hantu, to clear the waters of excess silt and pave the way for coral growth. Divers, too, could then enjoy this sanctuary.

The project, however, has nature lovers up in arms on several counts:

"First, to build the filtered sanctuary, they would have to dredge the area, which could kill existing marine life," said nature guide Debbie Ng of the Hantu Bloggers, one of the conservation groups that objected to the project.

And the filters, she said, would cause great harm. "We were afraid that the excess sediments being filtered could be dumped into the waters outside the marine sanctuary and kill the marine life there."

Project Noah's organisers also planned to conduct a census of the reefs around Hantu to take stock of the biodiversity in the area. Ms Ng, however, said the census seemed unnecessary as the National University of Singapore (NUS) have been conducting similar surveys since 1986.

Nature enthusiast Ria Tan, who runs the popular wildlife website wildsingapore.com, agreed. "To use a terrestrial metaphor, they appeared to be creating a garden that had to be fertilised, medicated, weeded and tended. This is not the same thing as conserving a wild rainforest", she told The Straits Times.

She was also concerned by comments that the scheme would be a "lucrative business venture". "It's okay if dive companies want to make money but it should not be at the expense of the corals."

She was referring to the SUF, a national sports association, made up mainly of dive instructors and operators. SUF President Stephen Beng, however, said profit was never the main intention.

Members of two nature groups -- Hantu Bloggers and the Blue Water Volunteers -- and other nature enthusiasts met the project organisers in April to express their concerns. Last week, SEC, NSS and the SUF informed them that the reef plans were being abandoned.

Confirming this, SEC executive director, Howard Shaw told The Straits Times yesterday that the Noah organisers had "jumped the gun a bit" by publicising the project when they had few concrete ideas on how to build the filtered reef.

The census has also been put on hold. The organisers were not aware of the NUS reef surveys, said Mr Shaw. "If there are any gaps in the information compiled by NUS, we will go ahead with the census."

Nature Society president Geh Min said that while they "should have consulted more widely before announcing the project", those for and against Project Noah all had essentially similar goals.

"There was never any intent to destroy corals", she said. "The sanctuary was meant to be a contingency plan, in case corals elsewhere in Singapore's waters were under threat from reclamation."

website©ria tan 2003 www.wildsingapore.com