Revamped Big Sister’s Island reopens after 3 years, with floating boardwalk and tidal pools

SINGAPORE: Big Sister’s Island reopened to the public on Monday (Oct 28) after three years of enhancement works. 
The revamped island has several new features such as a floating boardwalk, a coastal forest trail and a lagoon tidal pool where visitors can swim or snorkel.  
The island’s new features give visitors more opportunities to get close to Singapore’s rich array of marine and terrestrial biodiversity such as coral reefs and mangroves, the National Parks Board (NParks) said. 
Sisters’ Islands Marine Park, the country’s first marine park, plays an important role in conservation, research, outreach and education. 
The blacktip reef shark, copperband butterflyfish and giant carpet anemone are some of the aquatic creatures that can be found in waters surrounding the marine park. 
Although the park spans across 40 hectares, only Big Sister’s Island is accessible to the public. Small Sisters’ Island, which is earmarked for marine conservation, continues to be off-limits. 
Singapore announced in May that the southern islands – Kusu and Lazarus – have been picked as the proposed site for the country’s second marine park. The reefs of Lazarus Island and Kusu Island are home to 97 and 141 coral species respectively, including certain rare ones, said NParks. 
Opening the park on Monday, Minister for National Development Desmond Lee said Singapore’s rich array of marine biodiversity is constantly being threatened by climate change and environmental pollution. 
“Singapore’s waterways are one of the busiest in the world, serving one of the busiest ports internationally. There are many demands on our waters. For example, commerce, shipping, industry, food and aquaculture, as well as recreation, to name a few,” Mr Lee said. 
He also briefly spoke about an oil spill from a pipeline belonging to major energy company Shell that occurred on Oct 20, saying that no oil was observed at Sisters’ Islands Marine Park. 
“Events such as oil spills and coral bleaching are a sobering reminder of just how vulnerable our marine ecosystems are”. 
Visitors to Sisters’ Islands Marine Park can catch a ferry from Marina South Pier. Singapore Island Cruise and Ferry Services will commence ferry services to the marine park from Tuesday. 
These are the new features visitors can look out for. 
Visitors to Big Sister’s Island will spot Singapore’s first floating boardwalk once they disembark from the ferry. 
Spanning across 220m, the boardwalk doubles as a coral habitat and research site. 
Regardless of tide level, members of the public will be able to view corals and different species of fish swimming in and around the coral panels. 
There are 63 coral panels on the lower sides of the boardwalk that will provide a suitable substrate for corals to grow. 
NParks said that it is currently working to install a camera there to observe the corals during daytime. The camera will be deployed into the water during day time, but will be brought up at night for cleaning and maintenance. 
There are also five square pools of water – known as moon pools – along the boardwalk that will allow for various marine experiments to be carried out. This will help researchers study both the naturally established and transplanted corals in a field setting. 
The smaller of two existing lagoons at Big Sister’s Island has been restructured into a tidal pool that will retain seawater during low tides, creating a sheltered water body that will boost growth of mangrove propagules and seagrass inside the lagoon. 
Visitors will hence be able to partake in intertidal walks to get up close to marine plants and animals such as the Haddon’s Carpet Anemone, Sandfish and Flowercrab, and even swim and snorkel during low tide. Lucky ones might even spot otters and turtles in the water. 
Over time, the tidal pool will grow into a multi-habitat ecosystem that can support a wide range of marine biodiversity, such as the Spoon seagrass, Api-api Jambu and the Common sea star. 
The development of the tidal pool and its programmes are supported by a S$1 million (US$760,000) donation from Singtel through the Garden City Fund. 
Part of that donation also involves Singtel’s IT services arm designing an underwater video system to increase marine research and community engagement programmes. This will enable the tidal pool to double up as a “marine classroom,” the telecommunications company said. 
Visitors who want a bird’s eye view of Big Sister’s Island can trek up the new Ocean Network Express Coastal Forest Trail. 
They will be able to see critically endangered coastal species around the trail, such as the Putat Laut and Penaga Laut plants. 
The 230m long trail will bring visitors through a coastal forest that will lead to a two-storey high hilltop view deck – the highest point of the island. 
This will be a prime spot for birdwatchers who can keep an eye out for the critically endangered great-billed heron, spotted wood owl, and white-bellied sea eagle. 
The coastal trail is supported by a S$1 million donation from Ocean Network Express through NParks’ Garden City Fund. 
Sisters’ Islands is now a net-zero energy marine park that is fully powered by solar energy.
Located at the northern side of Big Sister’s Island, a solar farm with 88 solar panels will provide all the island’s electricity needs and power the desalination plant. 
Placed at the brightest area of the island, this will meet the marine park’s estimated annual electricity consumption of 19,000 kWh. This is equivalent to the yearly electricity consumption of a four-room HDB flat. 
The new solar-powered desalination plant will convert seawater into clean water, providing the marine park with clean water. There is also a water tower that can store 8,000 litres of clean water, so no power source is required to distribute water. 
Solar tubes will be used in the toilets instead of artificial lighting. Although there are open showers outside the toilet, there are currently no water coolers on the island. 
Home to a large variety of biodiversity, different types of reef enhancement units have also been placed on Sisters’ Islands Marine Park to give corals and other marine life habitat. 
NParks is also testing out the use of mineral accretion technology to enhance growth of hard corals by subjecting them to low-voltage electricity – a first in Singapore. Around 250 species of hard corals have been documented in Singapore’s waters out of over 800 species found worldwide.
Apart from aquatic creatures, NParks has also built kingfisher burrows, bee hotels, bat boxes and wildlife piles around Big Sister’s Island, providing more nesting sites to the wildlife. 
Benches around the marine park are also made from recycled casuarina timber from the island, while rope barriers have been made from decommissioned hoses from the Singapore Civil Defence Force. 
NParks will also look into using recycled hoses for hammocks and bench tops around the marine park. 
Mr Lee also announced on Monday that NParks and the National University of Singapore have launched the second phase of the Comprehensive Marine Biodiversity Survey. 
The survey aims to build on the information collected from the first phase in 2010 and provide a more complete picture of Singapore’s marine biodiversity. This will help NParks plan and strategise how to better conserve natural capital and enhance Singapore’s climate and ecological resilience. 
“Our efforts to meaningfully conserve and steward our marine biodiversity depend on having a good understanding of the environment, and of course, good data”, Mr Lee said.