Raffles Institution Year 2 Research Education

Design for Change School Challenge 2011

Project Marine Team Leader: Sean Lim (2P) Team Members: Eugene Lee (2C) Ian Liew (2C) Teacher-Mentor: Mrs Ramesh

Abstract In accordance with the “Design for Change School Contest”, participants are required to

think of a problem and devise measures to resolve it.

Our team identified a troubling problem to be resolved. The underlying problem was:

“Excessive amount of marine litter on our beaches and in our waters”.

We hypothesized that the people frequenting East Coast Beach would find that the

waters were too dirty for their liking. Through multiple surveys and personal experiences,

our hypothesis was proven right. 62% of the respondents agreed that the beaches were

indeed too dirty.

This report is written based on the results of an on-site and online survey, complimented

by additional on-site research of the before and after situation of the severity of marine

litter.

Contents

Abstract --------------------------------------------- i

Introduction --------------------------------------- 1

Methodology -------------------------------------- 3

Results ---------------------------------------------- 5

Conclusions --------------------------------------- 12

Acknowledgements ----------------------------- 18

Appendix ----------------------------------------- 19

Introduction Marine litter is human-created waste that has deliberately or accidentally become afloat

in a lake, sea, ocean or waterway. Oceanic debris tends to accumulate

on coastlines, frequently washing aground, when it is known as beach litter. Some

seeming forms of marine litter are created by human activities as they have been

discharging their waste material into the oceans for thousands of years. Recently

however, with the increasing use of plastic, human influence has become an issue as

many types of plastics do not biodegrade. Waterborne plastics and other types of

marine litter pose a serious threat to fish, seabirds, marine reptiles, and marine

mammals, as well as to boats and coastal habitations. Ocean dumping, accidental

container spillages, litter washed into storm drains, and wind-blown landfill waste are all

contributing to this problem.

Many people take our generally clean waters for granted. Now, our waters are dirtier

than before. Although this has not progressed to such an irreversible state, if nothing is

done, it would only be a matter of time before it becomes reality. The problem of Marine

Litter is a common one. However, no measures have been taken to solve this problem.

Thus, however common this project may seem, we persisted in deciding to take the first

step in reducing the problem of Marine Litter.

By embarking on this project, we hope to educate the public on the negative

consequences marine litter poses, and hopefully instill the idea that the cleanliness of

our waters depends to a large extent on ourselves as an individual. The reason we

chose to educate the public instead of just simply cleaning up the beaches is because

we believe that public awareness is the root of the problem. By instilling public

awareness amongst the community, people would naturally acquire the intuitive sense

and desire to keep our waters clean.

Review of Literature

Our literature review has shown us the consequences of Marine Litter that aroused due to

Marine Litter. One of the articles that meant the most to us was an article by Kelly Wu titled:

“Not Only Fish Swim In Our Oceans” This article shows us the significance of Marine Litter in

our society currently. A survey at different locations along Ambon Bay, Eastern Indonesia

reported main densities of debris up to 8.6 items per square meter. With such astonishing

amounts of killer litter reported in our neighbouring country, its not surprising to think that a

similar amount of marine litter exists in our waters.

Another article by Shobana Kesava titled “Singapore Coastline Getting Dirtier”, confirms the

belief that our beaches are getting dirtier. “Over 9,755kg of waste, from plastic bags to

refrigerators, was fished off beaches and mangroves during a mammoth cleanup in September,

almost 400kg more than in 2007.” Unlike the above-mentioned article, this article mentions that

to reduce Marine Litter, one has to change the mindset of the people in order to see results.

Through careful observation, our group strongly believes so and our reasons are stated in the

results section.

With both of the articles representing our collection of articles in saying that action needs to be

taken to bring down Marine Litter, we can assume that this project has a prominent future if it is

successful and well-documented.

Methodology

Our survey was initially 2 pages consisting of 8 multiple choice questions and 2 open-

ended ones. However, after much consideration and consulting of our teacher mentor,

we agreed that 10 questions were too long a survey for anyone to complete at the

beach. Compared to any other venue, a beach is a venue for recreation and relaxation.

As such, people would not be interested in helping us with our surveys. After much

editing, our survey was reduced to a single page consisting of 5 multiple choice

questions, with each question bearing an indicative impact towards the scope of our

project.

We conducted an online and on-site survey, with the online one being conducted via

Facebook and the on-site one being conducted at East Coast Beach. Our participants

were based on the activities that they were engaging in, and also based slightly on

convenience. We avoided those who were engaging in physical activities, a

conversation and any other activities of which our surveys would have interrupted.

We had a relatively high response rate of approximately 70%. Some of the participants

took great effort in completing our surveys with well-thought answers. However, some of

them were going through the motion as their answers were contradictory. Furthermore,

there was a language barrier between some of the respondents who could not

understand English and were unable to complete our surveys. Despite efforts to

translate the contents of the survey, our efforts were futile. Some respondents were also

very inquisitive regarding our survey.

Our survey questions were drafted based on the importance they had towards our data

collection about the people’s opinion of the beach. We drafted questions which its

answers could only be obtained from the respondent’s point of view. We filtered out

informative questions from our initial survey as there were accurate and reliable

answers available to us online. We also added in new questions that were not in our

initial survey, questions which we found useful in our investigation. We consulted our

teacher mentor twice before she approved the content of the survey and gave us the

go-ahead. We found that surveys were the most effective way in soliciting personal

opinions of the public as it collects various points of views from different people which

would eventually result in more reliable data and results. Compared to online sources,

books and materials, surveys are like primary sources which allow us to get into direct

contact with people. To further elaborate, the results of surveys are ever-changing, with

different results obtainable at different time and locations. Also, since our target

audience for this project is the visitors of East Coast Beach, the surveys are one of the

only ways for us to come into contact with our target audience and hence, it would allow

us to gather very useful information, unique to surveys alone.

As a team, we went down to East Coast Beach over the course of 4 days to give out

surveys and collect information regarding the current state of a particular section of the

beach. We brought a notebook along with us to record additional information which was

provided by either survey respondents or self-realization. The observations were done

as a group with all of our visits to East Coast Beach done together. Over the course of

all our visits, we had general agreement amidst all the things that we were doing.

Results Surveys

From this question and its given responses, we can tell that four fifths of our

respondents frequent the beach once a month or more. From this, we can infer that our

supposed course of action will not only benefit the environment but also greatly benefit

the majority of the people who visit the beach.

Besides this, they will tend to possess first-hand knowledge of the state of cleanliness of

the beach. This fact will lead us to believe that majority of the respondents have highly

reliable opinions.

From this question, many of the respondents think that the beaches at East Coast Park

are not clean enough. We can infer that many of the respondents think that marine litter

is a prevalent problem in our environment. With so many respondents giving negative

response towards the cleanliness of the beach, it proves our hypothesis correct that

people will not think that our beaches are clean enough.

Also, their negative response ties in with their response in the fifth question where

respondents greatly support us in taking action to solve this problem. Based on this

question alone however, we can conclude that our project, if successful will bring about

greater satisfaction towards a majority of the beach-goers.

Based on our on-site and online survey, we can tell that the responses from both parties

coincide with each other. Majority of our responses fall within the range of 4 to 7,

suggesting that the cleanliness of our beaches are either moderately clean or

unsatisfactory in the eyes of the public. We drafted this question as we strongly felt

that cleanliness was greatly subjective, with disagreement towards the cleanliness

levels amongst our team members. This probed us to set-up the question to gather the

opinion of the public.

0

5

10

15

20

25

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

On a scale of 1 to 10, how clean do you think the beaches are? (On-site poll)

% of respondents

From this question, plastic materials (inclusive of disposable cutlery) have proven to be

the most commonly seen rubbish at East Coast Beach. This is a worrying fact. Plastics

are not biodegradable and therefore they will continue to pose a threat to marine life as

long as they remain in our waters. Also, according to our research, turtles view plastic

bags as jellyfish, a primary food source. This will cause them to be asphyxiated and

eventually die of suffocation.

Another worrying statistic of our pie chart is that Styrofoam, otherwise known as

expanded polystyrene, is the third most commonly seen rubbish at East Coast Beach,

ranking in at 15%. Like plastics, the reason for our concern is that it is not

biodegradable.

Through this question, we have obtained valuable yet worrying results. We can infer

that more than half (56%) of the rubbish observed at East Coast Beach is not

biodegradable.

What type of rubbish do you think are most commonly seen in our beaches?

Styrofoam Objects

Plastic Bottles/Bags

Can Drinks

Disposable Cutlery

Leftover Food

Overfilled Bins

Newspapers

30%

16%

11%

12%

10% 6% 15%

According to this question, we can conclude that many people from the public are in full

support of our project as they want us to make a change for a cleaner environment for

their enjoyment.

As seen from the graph, there are very little respondents who think that no measures

should be taken to solve this problem while there are more respondents who chose “10”

which meant that they were fully supportive of us to take measures to solve this problem.

To tie in with the second question on the respondent’s opinion on the cleanliness of the

beach, many of the respondents felt that the beaches were not clean enough and

wanted to us to take action to solve this problem. With such results, we can thus believe

yet again that our project if successful will greatly benefit the public.

Before and After situation Before we implemented any changes to the situation of the beach, the beach was filled

with plastic bottles, bags and all sorts of litter that were prone to be marine litter. We

focused on a specific location, namely, the stretch of beach along the jetty which we

found was the dirtiest part of East Coast Beach after surveying the area.

Initially, the beach was strewn with all sorts of litter ranging from a headless Ultraman

toy to a baby shoe. All these unique forms of litters were insignificant when we observed

the tremendous amounts of litter such as plastic, styrofoam, wrappers and many others.

After even closer inspection, we suspect that the workers at the construction site have

not been exercising good environmental practices by littering their plastic bottles after

drinking. The reason for our suspicion is not entirely baseless. We found that the

section of beach nearer to the construction site was significantly dirtier than the other

parts of the beach and that area was also abundant in plastic bottles and cups. We tried

to think of other reasons for this other than the above mentioned one but to no avail. We

initially thought of whether the public itself could be responsible. However, we thought

that if the public had been responsible, there should not be a difference in the amount of

marine litter near and far from the construction site.

Part of our project included the cleaning up and observation of results. Altogether, we

filled a total of 6 garbage bags with rubbish along the jetty area and it did not make a

significant difference at all.

We decided to do more for the project. A week later, we went down yet again to East Coast Beach to further clean up the beach. To our “pleasant” surprise, the beach was significantly cleaner than before. The surprise however was short lived. While it may seemed to have been much cleaner, there was an unfortunate reason behind it. Upon closer inspection, we saw a clear water mark way above where all the rubbish had been. This meant that the tide rose and carried the rubbish into the sea, turning our worst fears into reality. Our inference was confirmed when we saw plastic bottles and bits floating in the sea. While we weren’t able to prevent this from happening, we decided to do what we can to further clean up any remaining rubbish on the shoreline and prevent it from becoming a potential marine hazard. After cleaning up the beach for some time, we felt that the cleanliness was not improving. This was due to a lack of resources needed to efficiently clean up. With only trash bags and using our bare hands, it soon became clear that this was not the solution if we wanted to make a change. Hence, we paused and thought of ideas. After much thought, we noticed a styrofoam cup amidst all the rubbish inside our huge trash bag. As such, we took it out, improvised a little and this what was thought to be an useless piece of styrofoam turned into the most valuable possession we had. Using some sharp twigs, we poked holes at the base of the cup. This enabled all the sand to be filtered out while leaving all the marine debris behind. That way, our collection of litter immediately speeded up. After two and a half hours of toiling under the sun, there was a significant change as can be seen from the pictures.

Conclusion After 8 months of preliminary investigation and observation, our Research Education

project has yielded conclusive results. Over the course of this project, we focused

mainly on a specific area at East Coast Beach, namely the area near the jetty. As the

area had high human traffic due to the presence of a construction site and a fishing area,

we found it susceptible to marine pollution. Sure enough, as we went on to observe, we

found that that area was unusually dirty, dirtier than other crowded places such as the

area outside of McDonalds. After closer inspection, we found that the nearer we got to

the construction site, the dirtier the beach was. This led us to come up with a possible

explanation for this trend. Our suspicion – the construction workers had a part to play in

the cleanliness of the beach as elaborated above.

In conjunction with the Design for Change project, our solution was to clean up all of the

rubbish there so as to provide a more favourable environment for the people who

frequent the premise. Besides this main solution, we had decided on putting up posters

around the area, educating the public on the negative impact Marine Litter brings about.

However, due to the many obstacles before us, we were thus unable to carry out this

solution. One example was time constraint.

As the project was nearing an end, with fast approaching deadlines, we had to think of a

solution that yielded immediate results. Putting up of posters would require a long time

to observe changes as our on-site survey had shown that people only visit East Coast

Park an average of once a month. This meant that if we were to observe any change,

we would have to put up the posters and come back a whole month later to observe and

record changes. Till today, our group still strongly believes that putting up the posters

would bring about a bigger change. Putting up posters, as compared to cleaning up the

beaches, would tackle the root of the problem as the whole problem of Marine Pollution

lies within the mindset of the people. “Instead of fishing for someone, we should teach

him how to fish”. This analogy represents what we are trying to carry out. Teaching the

public to be environmentally-aware will garner longer term results as our actions of

cleaning up the beaches can easily be forgotten. However, one will not forget important

life knowledge acquired.

After the clean-up, the situation was better than before. However, only time will tell if the

public would appreciate our efforts and stop their selfish actions. In addition, we found

alternative explanations to our findings, some of the rubbish at the jetty were washed

back into the sea. This again proves our point that marine litter is just a vicious cycle.

People litter, it gets washed into the sea, causes environmental disadvantages, gets

washed back ashore, results in an unfavourable environment for us, and it just keeps

happening over and over again. Well, how did we know that the rubbish were washed

back into the sea? We noticed that in the evening, it was the high tide and the water

could actually reach some of the rubbish which were far inland, thus we came out with a

hypothesis that some of the rubbish were washed back into the sea by the high tide

currents. We were eventually right as we witnessed a plastic bottle which was far inland

being carried away by the current back into the sea when it was high tide.

Strength, Weaknesses and Recommendations

Our project had several strengths as well as weaknesses. For strengths, our project

was greatly supported by the public as it can be seen from our surveys. 80% of our

respondents want to see changes being implemented and they also want to have a

cleaner beach for everyone. With so many people behind our backs and supporting us,

we found that this was certainly a strength that our project had.

In addition, another strength of our project was its feasibility. Unlike other projects which

focused on installing surveillance cameras opposite HDB blocks to curb the problem of

killer litter, our project did not need us to spend a hefty sum of money or even go to the

extent in asking the authorities for permission. Our solutions were very feasible and

there were very little obstacles blocking our way.

The last strength that we had for this project was that it was a very meaningful one. In

the process of solving the problem of marine litter, we are not only doing our people well,

but also saving marine life. According to our research, millions of marine life including

sea birds, turtles, aquatic plants and many others die from immense littering from a

shore and from boats. After reading so many articles about marine pollution, we thought

that why should these animals and plants suffer for our mistakes? Why do they have to

shoulder the burden when we are the ones at fault?

Finally, the very team that we formed had strengths as well. Being in the same co-

curricular activity, our schedules were very flexible. As CCAs make up a bulk of our

school commitments, being in the same CCAs was a huge advantage when it came to

meeting up for discussions. Quoting Ryunosuke Satoro “Individually, we are a drop.

Together, we are an ocean.” Teamwork itself is an essential pillar to success and this is

something we feel that we possess as a group.

No team is ever perfect. With strengths, our group would undoubtedly have some

weaknesses. At the start of the year, we faced some conflicting ideas when it came to

the preliminary drafting of the research topic. We had three main ideas; Making

Healthcare more affordable to Poor People, Effects of Gambling on Society and

Combating Killer Litter.

Making Healthcare more affordable to Poor People – This idea originally looked sound

and feasible and at the same time could impact a big number of people. However, upon

closer analysis, we found that this research topic posed several problems especially at

our level of research. Upon identifying solutions for this problem, we found that one of

the few solutions would be to contact and discuss with the relevant authorities such as

doctors and the Ministry of Health. As such a solution was only possible at higher level

of research; we decided that it was not feasible.

Effects on Gambling on Society - This idea if successful would generally help improve

Singapore’s overall well-being of her citizens. Part of the research process was to give

out surveys to tie in gathered knowledge with the present day situation. From our topic

sentence, it was obvious that our target audience for our survey would be gambling

addicts. Through newspaper articles, we researched on loan shark cases as we

believed this was a factor in problem gambling. Our observation showed that many

targets of loan shark harassment were a result of the victim going to them for loans and

unable to pay them back. The reason for their desperate loan was to fuel their gambling

addiction. As this research topic was associated with such societies, we felt that in the

worst-case scenario, our safety could be jeopardized.

Combating Killer Litter in our Neighbourhood – In order to combat killer litter in

neighbourhoods, we would need a hefty sum of money to install surveillance cameras

across HDB flats to catch anyone who threw litter from their flats. However, due to the

limitations of our financial capabilities unless we had some form of fund-raising which

was time consuming. We could not possibly install one surveillance camera on each

HDB Flat. Also, privacy was an issue for the residents. Thus, we scraped the idea of

curbing the problem of killer litter in our neighbourhood. We replaced it in a form of

another scope, marine litter which was also not too broad a topic. This topic retained the

essence of solving a common problem but at the same time, eliminated the possible

problems which could arise such as privacy and funding. Moreover, our ideas to solving

marine litter are feasible, fulfilling all the aspects of a good project.

Another weakness to our project was that owing to the tight deadlines that we had to

meet, we had certain time constraints when it came to conducting the seven day action

week. To make matters worse, one of our teammates contracted conjunctivitis during

the time where we planned to carry out our seven day action week. We lacked

manpower during a few of our visits to East Coast Beach, leading to overall inefficiency.

With only 3 members in the group in total, only 2 of us went to East Coast Beach to start

the clean-up. Under the hot sun while picking up rubbish with only 2 people helping out

was certainly not ideal. We only managed to clear up a portion of the rubbish at the jetty

and it was just inefficient, resulting in a wasted trip. Fortunately, our teammate

recovered fast and came to help us in the next few trips to East Coast Beach, with much

cohesion and team work, we managed to successfully clean up the jetty area which was

once filled with rubbish.

Finally, the last weakness that we had with our project was that some of our survey

results might not be as reliable as the majority. We conducted an on-site survey at East

Coast Beach to help us with our project. However, not all of them were reliable as some

of the survey respondents were not honest and thought that our surveys were just for

fun. Some of their answers were contradictory and they even asked for more surveys

for them to do. We felt that because of these respondents, some of our results might not

be very reliable for research purposes. However, some respondents took our surveys

very seriously; they provided us with valuable answers and thought-provoking questions

which were indeed very helpful to us. In addition, these valuable answers overwhelmed

the untruthful ones and in the end, our results were still very reliable and useful.

Limitations

One of the limitations that we faced was the shortage of proper materials when we

conducted our clean-up at East Coast Beach. At first, we faced the problem of lack of

time and we were slow due to the shortage of proper cleaning materials. However, we

used our imagination and creativity and we came up with a prototype which helped us to

collect rubbish more efficiently and disposing them in trash bags. These prototypes are

mainly plastic cups, styrofoam cups and styrofoam containers which could collect larger

amounts of rubbish at one go rather than using our bare hands. Unfortuantely, the cups

collected more sand than rubbish, resulting in our thrash bags being heavy with sand

and not rubbish. Thus, we poked a hole at the bottom of each cup and container,

allowing the sand to flow out through the hole with only rubbish and lesser amounts of

sand collected. This one incident thought us to be resourceful when under difficult

situations. Instead of “fighting fire with fire”, we “fought rubbish with rubbish” and this

also led us to strongly believe that when there is a will, there will be a way.

Another limitation we encountered was the fact that there was not enough points of view

from our articles on marine litter that we collected as we were limited to choosing only

articles which were within 3 years of this year and they had to be local articles.

According to surveys done, the more varieties of different points of views from different

experts all over the world, the more reliable the results would be. This was definitely one

limitation that we faced.

Future Suggestions for Research Projects

We would encourage better preparation of materials before doing any physical work in

case obstacles would get in the way. Also, we advise time management and a plan

before any work or activities are done in order to have a more efficient procedure. Lastly,

research projects in the future should have more samples of surveys to result in more

reliable results.

Acknowledgements

At the end of this project, we would like to thank our survey respondents for their honest

and valuable answers that helped us in our research, we would also like to thank the

bicycle rental shops at East Coast Beach for their bicycles which gave us overall

efficiency and speed to get us to our location, the jetty which was very far away from

where we entered. Lastly, we would like to thank our RE teacher mentor, Mrs Ramesh

for her invaluable guidance, support and teaching that has helped us throughout this

whole Design For Change Project.

Appendix

Survey Sample

On site -Survey questions

Dear Sir/Madam, We are students from Raffles Institution and we are seeking your help in completing a survey that will benefit our Design For Change project greatly. Kindly circle your answers. Thank you, Sean Lim, Ian Liew, Eugene Lee (RI Year 2)

1. On average, how often to you come to the beach?

a) More than once a week

b) Once a week

c) Once a month

d) Once a year

e) Less than once a year

2. Do you think the beaches here are clean enough(clear waters, over-filled bins,

rubbish on the beach etc.)?

a) Yes

b) No

3. On a scale of 1 to 10, how clean do you think the beaches are?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Dirtiest Cleanest

State your reason for the above choice, _________________________________________________

4. What type of rubbish do you think are most commonly seen in our beaches?

a) Styrofoam objects

b) Plastic bottles/bags

c) Can drinks

d) Disposable cutlery

e) Leftover food

f) Overfilled bins

g) Newspapers

h) Others, please specify: _____________

5. To what extent do you think that measures should be taken to solve this problem?

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

Strongly Strongly

disagree agree

Review of Literature-Marine litter articles

Singapore coastline getting dirtier More than 9,750kg of trash cleared during cleanup in September

Shobana Kesava, Straits Times 16 Dec 08;

DESPITE public anti-littering campaigns and annual cleanups involving thousands of

people, Singapore's coasts are dirtier than they were five years ago, according to new

data.

Over 9,755kg of waste, from plastic bags to refrigerators, was fished off beaches and

mangroves during a mammoth cleanup in September, almost 400kg more than in 2007.

The cleanup was organised by International Coastal Cleanup Singapore (ICCS) and

was part of a worldwide drive.

Locally, over 2,500 people - from schoolchildren to business executives and civil

servants - took part in the event, fanning out to coastal areas from Changi to Jurong.

The results of the cleanup were recently computed by the entirely volunteer-run ICCS.

Lead coordinator N. Sivasothi said he was not surprised by the volume of trash

collected.

He described the cleanup as a stopgap measure, saying the only way to cut down on

beach-front trash is to encourage conservation.

'If we use less, that will mean fewer things we need to dispose of. Proper disposal is

important so that trash doesn't end up in drains which wash into the sea,' he said.

This year, about 2,530 volunteers participated in the Sept 20 cleanup, down from 2,860

last year. Organisers said the numbers were higher when volunteers who worked on

other days of the year were included.

The results of the cleanup show trash trends have varied little over the few years, said

Mr Sivasothi.

'It would take an enormous shift in behaviour to change the kind of rubbish we find. I'd

be surprised if there was a significant change,' he said.

Plastic bags, straws and styrofoam have been a constant on shorelines here and

abroad for years. Larger items, such as refrigerators and tyres, have also been found,

according to organisers.

While the September cleanup shows littering habits remain a problem, volunteers are

undeterred.

Kranji Mangrove volunteer Cheong Wei Siong, 20, said he has seen the shoreline

become progressively cleaner over the years.

'I always feel good visiting the mangroves because they are much cleaner, and I played

an important role in it,' he said.

Mr Yasim Abidin, a volunteer who has cleaned the shores for 10 years, said he is not

discouraged by the consistently high garbage load.

Every year, the 29-year-old gets 80 children to pair up with Nanyang Polytechnic

students to help clean the shoreline. 'It's our small contribution to Singapore and

hopefully the children will take the message home and into their future,' he said.

http://sgblogs.com/entry/255972

Not Only Fish Swim in Our Oceans September 17, 2009 by Kelly Wu

The Problem of Coastal and Marine Debris Not only fish swim in our oceans – an assortment of marine debris is surfing the waves too. Improperly disposed trash from the shore or from shipping vessels can get washed into the waterways. They also accumulate along the coastline after being washed up by the tides, on beaches, in inter-tidal lagoons and in mangroves. This litter if left uncollected can lead to several undesirable effects to mankind, including the contamination of beaches and harbors, damaging fishing vessels and affecting the aesthetics of the coastal environment. They also affect wildlife which may ingest inedible materials, get entangled in the trash or have their habitats altered by alien objects. Marine debris is a big problem that does not respect sovereignty and country borders. Meaning where it ends up may not be anywhere near its source. Southeast Asia is also not spared from this problem. A survey at different locations along Ambon Bay, Eastern Indonesia, in 1994/5 reported mean densities of debris up to 8.6 items per square meter (Uneputty & Evans, 1997). Singapore faces its share of marine debris too. In the 2008 International Coastal Cleanup in Singapore, 9,754.9kg of trash was collected by volunteers in a single event that lasts just one morning! What are the most common items in the marine debris? In 2008, the top three items of trash found in the International Coastal Cleanup data collection effort after the worldwide tally are cigarette butts, plastic bags and food containers / wrappers. Looking back for the source, it’s not hard to tell that these items would largely come from human activities on the shore. So don’t just blame the big ocean carriers for coastal pollution!

Shoreline activities of beachgoers or just about anyone can result in the debris problem if the trash is improperly disposed of and finds its way into the waterways. Personally, what I feel is the most problematic trash of them all? PLASTIC. And it deserves to be written in capital letters and bold. In a recent expedition to the “Great Pacific Garbage Patch” (a gyre of marine litter in the central North Pacific Ocean), scientists brought back piles of plastic debris they pulled out. Indeed, plastic is a persistent and growing problem in the oceans that is worrying scientists. The plastic can break down in oceans and release contaminants (see article here). They can also be ingested by unsuspecting marine creatures that can get killed as a result. Yet, all is not lost! Locally, the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore has continued to be a good avenue over the years to raise awareness on the problem of marine litter. NGOs such as Waterways Watch Society in Singapore have also been active in getting people involved in beach patrols, cleanup efforts etc. Internationally, it is probably worthwhile to mention that the United Nations Environmental Programme actually has an initiative to tackle the problem of marine litter under the Regional Seas Coordinating Office and the Global Programme of Action. And finally, what can you do as an individual? Join a cleanup effort or at the very least, do not improperly dispose of your trash into rivers, seas and oceans, please! http://www.greenkampong.com/green_reporter/not-only-fish-swim-in-our-oceans/

Thu 24 Jul 2008

Horseshoe crabs rescued from a ghost net in Mandai mangrove

Horseshoe crabs have been around for at least 445 million years, predating the dinosaurs and they are facing their greatest challenges during theAnthropocene - habitat loss, pollution, over-fishing and ghost net entanglement. The latter arises when fishermen abandon or lose their strong mono-filament gill nets; these do not degrade but will instead repeatedly entangle all sorts of animals in mangroves, rocky shore, coral reefs, sea grass and sandy shores.

This is happening in Singapore too. Like my fellow naturalists and field biologists, I have had to rescue horseshoe crabs, forceps crabs, birds and even snakes over the past two decades. Habitatnews has highlighted just a couple of these rescues (e. g. Lazarus Island, 2004; Mandai, 2005) and the Nature Society (Singapore) has a regular rescue team that works the Mandai mudflats. These days it seems almost every low tide trip to a mangrove reveals ghost nets - e.g. shooting for Once Upon a Tree 2, a shore visit suring the last Pedal Ubin and the recent Lim Chu Kangmangrove cleanup as well.

Mandai mudflats and mangroves have such a high incidence of ghost nets that I pack a scissors and factor in time for gill net removal each time before I set out - film shoot, education trip or work trip. Unfortunately, today was no different - NUS biology honours student Theresa Su, Raffles Museum Toddycat Teo Kah Ming and myself carefully released about 20 mangrove horseshoe crabs that were still living. Kah Ming had counted 87 carapaces entangled and adacent to the net so most had died some time ago.

We checked each individual to be sure and carefully removed the nylon filaments that had weaved between and around their limbs. The chelicerates (horseshoe crabs are not crabs) were not feisty but happily not too limp - so they were recent entanglements but probably not last night's. Once freed, we left them clustered in various tide pools nearby with some hope that they would survive. The net was cut into three lengths and carried out in a bag made from a large-mesh ghost net lying nearby.

There are still nets out there, I know, and with research trips increasing, hopefully it will come to a time when my scissors can stay in the bag!

http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg//index.php?phrase=coastalcleanup&submit=Search+Habitatnews

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Battling the Curse of Marine Litter International Coastal Cleanup Singapore The Curse of Marine Litter | Situation in Singapore mangroves | What the data tells us | Want to help?

What the data begins to tell us Along with the 77 participating countries, we submitted country reports to the Ocean

Conservancy, USA, a marine conservation group. With international data sets

stretching back 14 years, they are able to make representation to the United Nations

about the global problem, and to push for laws and enforcement against dumping

trash in the ocean. In Singapore, the mangrove clean-up is a much smaller operation

(400 versus more than 1,000 on beaches). It reflects the safety limit imposed on the

tougher terrain and also, it is an attempt to protect the forest from our impact - better

a gradual process to remove decades of litter, than a fast destructive approach. Even

so, in just 90 minutes, some three tonnes of debris were removed, of which over 90%

was plastic and foam plastic.

Item Quantity from Mangrove

Quantity from Beaches Total

Cigarette butts 15 8,903 8,918

Pieces (foam plastic) 1,958 6,602 8,560

Bags, food bags/wrappers 4,251 3,831 8,082

Straws 2,637 5,299 7,936

Pieces (plastic) 1,483 6,387 7,870

Bottles, beverages, soda 1,170 4,483 5,653

Most numerous items collected during the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore 2001, by approximately 1200 participants in an average of less than two hours

The beach cleanup exercise is an older programme and

many participating schools run their sites independently,

submitting data to the coordinator at the end of the

exercise. These shorelines are cleaned regularly, most of

them daily.

So the data from beaches provide an indication of how

much litter might be generated daily. More than 54,000

items of litter weighing more than 700kg were collected

from less than 25% of our shoreline in a single day in

2001. Preliminary and conservative estimates pose a

question: are almost eight million pieces of marine trash

weighing more than 1,000 tonnes washing up on our

shores each year?!

Figures like these would provide a better reflection of the

problem in our country. Thus locally, we are building the

data set up to better predict the estimated load in

mangroves and provide reasonably accurate figures about

annual recruitment on the seashores of Singapore. Besides

providing data as feedback to government, the information

will provide a resource to laymen, students and

organisations to stimulate efforts that will lead to

individual and societal change.

Are we really the source of the problem? But isn't the problem coming from the sea? Interestingly,

the combined data suggests that for Singapore, more than

60% of this trash is coming from shoreline activities.

Hence it will ultimately require the participation of the

average Singaporean and begin with personal initiatives.

But why personal practices? Well, take a look at the top

six items collected in 2001 - in less than two hours, mind

you.

Topping the list again are cigarette butts, the top ranked item throughout the history

of cleanup. Cigarettes are the most littered item in America and the world according

to CigaretteLitter.Org. Since cigarette filters are made of cellulose acetate and not

cotton, they can take decades to degrade. Their high numbers on beaches and low

numbers in mangroves point to shoreline activities as the source of these items.

As for hardy plastic straws, another regular feature in cleanup data, George Jacobs,

one of our regulars, fails to understand why we still use straws to drink, after the age

of four.

The data from bags and plastic pieces add to the

compelling argument offered by saturated land fill

areas on mainland Singapore - the fact that the only

landfill we have is at Pulau Semakau, one of our

southern islands, designed to last until 2030. Issues

like reducing waste in packaging, or more simply,

the use of plastic bags at supermarkets remain

pertinent. Apparently, more than one million

plastic bags are handed out each day in Singapore. Yet supermarkets are reluctant to

impose a charge for plastic bags. Although these would save major supermarkets a

few million dollars a year, the cost of irate customers is apparently not worth the

effort. Hence efforts by the Singapore Environment Council received lukewarm

response earlier this year (Kaur, 2002).

Perhaps, significant change will only be achieved when the situation becomes more

serious. Both Asian and Western countries are taking action. In Ireland you pay for

plastic bags, and the UK is examining this approach. Bangladesh has banned

polythene bags for jute, boosting their ailing jute mill industry (Chazan, 2002). In

Taiwan, mainly government establishments are banned from offering free plastic

bags and eating utensils, and a campaign is dissuading people from using plastic bags

and disposable plastic utensils (Chiu, 2002).

Obviously, significant effort still needs to be invested in educating the public. It is

not a short haul job, as our own Ministry of the Environment can tell us. We must

continue in our efforts in various ways, and remain hopeful that one day, the

combined efforts of all, locally and internationally, will reduce the problem of trash

to such an extent, that the International Coastal Cleanup effort becomes a vague but

pleasant memory.

http://habitatnews.nus.edu.sg/pub/naturewatch/text/a103c.htm

Marine debris: Killer litter updated Dec 09

Why is there so much litter on the shore? Where does all this litter comes from? When we DON'T throw litter into a proper bin, it falls to the ground, goes into the drain, flushes into the canal, then into the sea. Most of the litter on our shores comes from landbased activities in Singapore and not necessarily from ships or boats or other countries. Why is the litter arranged in a line on the shore? Litter that floats comes in with the tide and is deposited on the high water mark. There is usually so much litter in the water, especially near shores frequented by people, that every tide brings in a new load of trash. Heavier trash that does not float were probably dumped on the shore or nearby. Killer Litter! Litter in the sea isn't just unsightly. Litter kills marine life.

Of all the litter in the ocean, plastic litter is the most lethal. And plastic makes up nearly 90% of marine litter.

Small animals are smothered in plastic bags. Sea turtles often eat floating plastic bags, mistaking them

for jellyfishes which are among their food. Sea birds and even whales die from eating plastic bags.

Abandoned fishing nets kill by trapping animals. Marine animals that get entangled die a slow death. Air-breathing animals such as dugongs, dolphins and sea turtles drown if they are trapped in nets. Sea birds that fish in the ocean may also get entangled and die.

Plastics don't biodegrade. But they do break up into smaller and smaller pieces. These tiny pieces are eventually eaten by small sea creatures and thus enter the food chain including our seafood.

Plastic everywhere: Plastic floats. In the ocean currents, plastic trash literally travels the world.

Plastics forever: Plastic litter lasts, and lasts, and lasts... "So ubiquitous and inexpensive are plastics that we’ve become a single-use, throwaway society. Synthetic plastics do not biodegrade. At best, they break and break again into smaller and smaller pieces. The fact remains that, save those incinerated, every single molecule of synthetic plastic ever created is still on this planet and probably will be for centuries". from Breaking the cycle of plastics in the ocean by Andrew Myers Ocean Conservancy Magazine Autumn 2007 How much plastic is in the ocean? "Findings by Dr Richard Thompson at the University of Plymouth estimate there are 300,000 items of plastic per sq km of sea surface, and 100,000 per sq km of seabed. So plastic appears to be everywhere in our seas."

Pasir Ris Park, Jan 10

Berlayar Creek next to

Keppel Golf Club, Mar 09

from Plastics 'poisoning world's seas' By Maggie Ayre Producer BBC 7 Dec 06 Aren't Singapore's beaches clean? "On beaches across Singapore where the public has access, the NEA has about 40 cleaners removing rubbish before most beach-goers arrive. On the popular 11-km stretch of East Coast Park, about 15 of them sweep, pick up and toss out trash on any given day, starting from 7am. The volunteers (from International Coastal Cleanup Singapore) took over their job on Saturday and collected 16,819 items weighing 2,600kg at East Coast Park alone - the highest amount of trash collected on any beach open to the public." fromThe coast is not clear by Shobana Kesava Straits Times 20 Sep 07 You CAN make a difference

Throw all your rubbish in a proper bin. Try to reduce the use of these things that you only use

once or eventually throw away: plastics, styrofoam, plastic bags.

Don't use balloons at parties, especially avoid helium balloons and release of such balloons, particularly near the shores.

Clean up carefully when having an event near the shores. Join International Coastal Cleanup Singapore. It's NOT

just about removing rubbish. It is about collecting data about marine debris. The data is compiled worldwide and used to raise awareness and encourage change in consumer habits and government policy.

Kusu Island, Jul 04

Changi, Oct 07

Our main beaches APPEAR clean only because of the armies of cleaners.

Daily beach cleaning at East Coast Park, Apr 08

A beach that is not regularly cleaned.

Tanah Merah, Oct 09

http://www.wildsingapore.com/wildfacts/concepts/litter.htm

Singapore and marine litter: Coastal Cleanup Sep 09 The amount of trash on Singapore's shores can be heart-breaking. Once a year, valiant volunteers mount a blitz on marine litter. Is there any point to cleaning up the shores just once a year? The effort is not just to gather trash, but data on the trash. The operation is done professionally.

Months before the date, there are countless runs of briefings to explain (a) Singapore has marvellous marine life (b) WHY litter is bad for marine life and humans. The data reveals clearly the sources of litter (us) and it doesn't take much to join the dots on what we can do as individuals. After seeing the data, I personally never use a straw anymore. I say, a human above the age of 2

doesn't have to suck at drinks. And to use a plastic object for a few minutes and then throw it away is just wrong.

The lasting change hopefully takes place through the thousands of ordinary people that take part in the effort. A change in their attitudes, which they in turn can share with those around them. How bad is the situation? Here's the data for the effort in 2008 which involved 2,500 volunteers, covering 16km of coastline,

collecting 9 tonnes of trash comprising 130,000 items. Data on the items are meticulously recorded.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_Vxu_tx5NynY/Soptqaad0AI/AAAAAAAAaO4/dTJ7VhpgLRE/s1600

-h/ICCS2008.GIF Where does all the trash come from? The source of the trash is also recorded.

Data from 2008 reveals 50% of the trash is a result of "Shoreline and Recreational Activities", 6.5%

from "Ocean/Waterway Activities", 15% from "Smoking-Related Activities" with 26.5% categorised as

"Debris of Local Concern". This is a typical scene on East Coast Park. This was taken at sunrise. Obviously, someone had breakfast and just walked away. There was a rubbish bin about 10 paces away.

Is it any wonder then that data for 2008 shows that for "Shoreline and Recreational Activities" the main types of debris were Plastic bags (18%), Food Wrappers/Containers (10%), Straws, Stirrers (7%), Plastic Beverage Bottles under 2 litres (4%), Cups, Plates, Forks, Knives, Spoons (2%), Caps, Lids (3%). The Cleanup in Singapore is part of International Coastal Cleanuprun by the Ocean Conservancy. It is

the world’s largest volunteer event of its kind. Last year, nearly 400,000 volunteers collected more than 6.8 million pounds of trash in 104 countries and recorded every piece of trash collected. Killer Litter! Discarded drift nets kill countless marine creatures constantly. Called ghost nets, these cause unnecessary painful deaths for our marine life. Plastic litter is particularly insidious as these last for a long time, choking and killing marine life that

accidentally eat them. Plastic litter breakdown into smaller and smaller pieces and they end up in the food chain and thus eventually, in humans. http://wildshores.blogspot.com/2009/08/singapore-and-marine-litter-coastal.html

This is a poster designed by students to show how marine litter is a rising problem in Singapore. http://www.flickr.com/photos/habitatnews/97923377/sizes/o/in/set-72057594063083810/

Sources and Effects of Marine Pollution

Type Primary Source/Cause Effect

Nutrients Runoff approximately 50% sewage,

50% from forestry, farming, and

other land use. Also airborne

nitrogen oxides from power plants,

cars etc.

Feed algal blooms in coastal waters.

Decomposing algae depletes water of

oxygen, killing other marine life. Can

spur algal blooms (red tides), releasing

toxins that can kill fish and poison

people.

Sediments Erosion from mining, forestry,

farming, and other land-use; coastal

dredging and mining

Cloud water; impede photosynthesis

below surface waters. Clog gills of

fish. Smother and bury coastal

ecosystems. Carry toxins and excess

nutrients.

Pathogens Sewage, livestock. Contaminate coastal swiming areas

and seafood, spreading cholera,

typhoid and other diseases.

Alien Species Several thousand per day

transported in ballast water; also

spread through canals linking

bodies of water and fishery

enhancement projects.

Outcompete native species and reduce

biological diversity. Introduce new

marine diceases. Associated with

increased incidence of red tides and

other algal blooms. Problem in major

ports.

Persistent

Toxins (PCBs,

Heavy metals,

DDT etc.)

Industrial discharge; wastewater

discharge from cities; pesticides

from farms, forests, home use etc.;

seepage from landfills.

poison or cause disease in coastal

marine life, especially near major

cities or industry. Contaminate

seafood. Fat-soluble toxins that bio-

accumulate in predators can cause

disease and reproductive failure.

Oil 46% from cars, heavy machinery,

industry, other land-based sources;

32% from oil tanker operations and

other shipping; 13% from accidents

at sea; also offshore oil drilling and

natural seepage.

Low level contamination can kill

larvae and cause disease in marine life.

Oil slicks kill marine life, especially in

coastal habitats. Tar balls from

coagulated oil litter beaches and

coastal habitat. Oil pollution is down

60% from 1981.

Plastics Fishing nets; cargo and cruise ships;

beach litter; wastes from plastics

industry and landfills.

Discard fishing gear continues to catch

fish. Other plastic debris entangles

marine life or is mistaken for food.

Plastics litter beaches and coasts and

may persist for 200 to 400 years.

Radioactive

substances

Discarded nuclear submarine and

military waste; atmospheric fallout;

also industrial wastes.

Hot spots of radio activity. Can enter

food chain and cause disease in marine

life. Concentrate in top predators and

shellfish, which are eaten by people.

Thermal Cooling water from power plants

and industrial sites

Kill off corals and other temperature

sensitive sedentary species. Displace

other marine life.

Noise Supertankers, other large vessels

and machinery

Can be heard thousands of kilometers

away under water. May stress and

disrupt marine life.

Source: Compiled by WorldWatch Institute. http://www.gdrc.org/oceans/marine-pollution.html

Acknowledgements