Mangrove madness in March with R.U.M.

Volunteers were hard at work in March at Pulau Ubin. Cleaning up the mangroves, doing mangrove mapping,  filming R.U.M., and sharing about Ubin's awesome mangroves at our free monthly walk.

Here's a glimpse of our mad March in the mangroves at Pulau Ubin!


Mangrove clean up

To prepare for Mother Nature to do the planting, we need to clean up the mangroves of trash. On 25 Mar, 16 volunteers with the Nature Society Singapore (NSS) and Restore Ubin Mangroves (R.U.M.) Initiative removed 176 kg of trash from R.U.M. site 1. This included 22 kg of fishing nets and 32 kg for two rubber tires. They were led by Liz Lim, Richard Kuah and Mona Tan.

Thanks to Liz Lim for sharing photos and story about this trip. She said "The low tide exposed a myriad of concrete obstacles on the beach which made it hazardous to traverse, and the beach was covered in seaweed this time. Most of the trash is deposited on the high tide mark along the bund, the edge of the abandoned aquaculture pond, and so we concentrated our efforts here. Styrofoam trash seems to have been reduced from previous visit. Also the usually observed deposit of trash entangled in the tree roots seemed reduced. But we did find a lot of cigarette butts and wet wipe towelettes on the east side. Volunteers also picked up tent materials and mattress/cushion materials.

On the west side of this site, volunteers with Richard found abandoned fishing nets and there were still a lot more that we did not have the ability to remove. We observed the presence of nylon strings and wires attached to trees that may have been used to hold nets or tarps."

Liz Lim also shared these awesome photos!


The next R.U.M. mangrove clean up will be on 22 Apr (Sat). More details and registration here.

Mangrove mapping continues!

Prof Dan Friess and the tireless team of scientists work hard to create mangrove maps that will guide us in ecological mangrove restoration!

Photo by Dan Friess.

Filming R.U.M.

Rachel Quek who is leading a National Geographic film about Pulau Ubin and R.U.M. called Ubin, Sayang, shares her work filming about mangrove mapping: "We were fortunate to learn about the importance of elevation survey for mangrove restoration at Kampung Durian in Pulau Ubin. Our team was guided by Professor Dan Friess and his really fun (!) research assistants (thanks Wei Bin and Zhangxin Zheng) in understanding why an optimal soil elevation is important for the growth of mangrove shrubs so that they do not become thirsty from too little water or drown from too much water. I am very excited to showcase our beautiful photo story covered by Ilya Katrinnada who was so happy to be in the company of tiny wildlifes in Kampung Durian's mangroves."

Xiao Ting finds out it's not so easy to do mangrove mapping.
Photo by Ilya Katrinnada

The fish farms off Pulau Ubin rely on healthy mangroves for good water quality and supply of wild fishes. Last month, Rachel and her film team learned more. Ilya Katrinnada and Zhi Heng Chia shared: "Mangrove Mafia meet Sea Angels: We went for our first (almost) full-strength team trip to Pulau Ubin, and were met with the hospitality of Uncle Phillip and his dogs at his fish farm. Uncle Johnny, a member of the Sea Angel, brought us on a kayaking expedition to five different sites around the vicinity. His generosity in sharing his knowledge of Ubin's ecology, peppered with stories of his kayaking adventures, was testament to his deep affinity with the great outdoors. It was safe to say that those 4 hours of being in the sea and the sun sufficed an entire week's workout regime (for some of us, at least). This short one-day trip gave us a brief introduction to the oasis of wonder that Pulau Ubin and its people have to offer. And we cannot wait for more."

Photo by Ilya Katrinnada and Zhi Heng Chia

FREE monthly mangrove walk

Despite the wet and wild weather, we had a great time at the free monthly Ubin mangrove walk with the Restore Ubin Mangroves (R.U.M.) Initiative! Thanks to the hardcore volunteers and the most enthusiastic visitors we have had!

Photo by Mohammad Juhari.n

As usual, thanks to Uncle Lim for allowing us to gather at his shop at no. 42 Pulau Ubin for the walk. It was lovely to meet on the walk, Thomas from Edible Gardens, the Little Green Men and many others passionate about mangroves and Pulau Ubin. Thank you for coming!

Photo by Mohammad Juhari.

3 Mar is declared as World Wildlife Day by the UN, so we made a special effort to spot wildlife on our walk. Despite the wet weather, thanks to sharp eyes and ears, we saw hornbills, kingfishers, herons, macaques, oriental whip snake, Golden Orb web spider, cotton stainer bug and more!

Photos thanks to Mohammad Juhari and Little Green Men.

More about the walk on the wild shores of singapore blog. And more awesome photos by Mohammad Juhari.


We were also delighted by this wonderful video clip done by Lexus Lee and his team did of our February monthly walk.


Check up the R.U.M. facebook page for updates on the R.U.M. free monthly mangrove walks.

Here's more details on volunteer opportunities with RUM, requirements and how to register.