More NParks officers, volunteers deployed to beach, intertidal zones

More National Parks Board (NParks) officers and volunteers have been deployed at Changi Beach and other intertidal zones since last year, amid an increase in the number of visitors especially during the holidays.

They remind visitors to refrain from touching, trampling and collecting specimens, as part of efforts to raise public awareness on protecting marine wildlife, said Minister for National Development Desmond Lee in Parliament yesterday.

He was responding to Workers' Party MP Leon Perera (Aljunied GRC) and Mr Yip Hon Weng (Yio Chu Kang) on whether measures are being taken to reduce the negative impact of higher visitorship on intertidal habitats like Changi Beach.

Intertidal habitats refer to the ecosystems found on marine shorelines, which are subject to high and low tides. There has been a recent spate of cases of beachgoers manhandling and collecting sea creatures at low tide.

Most visitors are cooperative and return the marine wildlife when advised by volunteers to do so, said Mr Lee, adding that the majority of the beachgoers are families exploring the area during public or school holidays.

More signs have been put up around the intertidal areas to educate visitors on how to interact responsibly with marine wildlife, and NParks will continue to step up these efforts, he added.

The Ministry of National Development is also discussing - with partners such as the marine conservation community and volunteers - how to manage the number of visitors at intertidal areas in a way that supports nature conservation while keeping these spaces open for public recreation, Mr Lee said. To assess the health of these ecosystems, NParks conducts long-term habitat monitoring in collaboration with academics and volunteers, he added, noting that recent data indicates that Singapore's marine biodiversity is generally in good condition.

The Government is studying the possibility of strengthening protection for marine organisms under the Wildlife Act. Currently, other than certain rare species such as giant clams, invertebrates are not protected under the Act. The Act, which took effect in 2020, is meant to extend greater protection to Singapore's native wildlife. Anyone found guilty of trapping or selling protected wildlife species without approval can be fined up to $50,000, jailed for two years or both. Over the past five years, no one was prosecuted for the poaching of marine wildlife under the Wildlife Act or its predecessor, the Wild Animals and Birds Act, Mr Lee said.