Sunday, November 30, 2014

The Biorock that we built

Shaped like the SST logo, this is the Biorock that SST students designed and built. 

Monday, November 10, 2014

Overview - The places we went

Places we went for the 5-day trip: 
(a) Day 1 - Novotel Kuta Beach (Our Home for the 5 days)
(b) Day 2 - Tanjung Luar Fish Market (Witness the exploitation)
(c) Day 2 - Wildlife Conservation Society (The NGOs at work) 
(d) Day 3 - Sunken and Pink Beach (Eco-tourism: engaging fisherman in non-shark trade)
(d) Day 4 - Gili Eco-trust (Rehabilitating damaged coral reefs)
(e) Day 5 - Kuta Beach Cleanup (Engaging the community)

Day 5 - Beach Cleanup

SST students with local volunteers after collecting all the rubbish on the beach

SST students in action: removing difficult trash on Kuta Beach

Trash audit done by SST students for their efforts at Kuta Beach, Lombok on 10 Nov 2014

Day 4 - Bio-Rocks

Delphine from Gili Eco-trust giving a lesson to SST students

SST student-built Bio-Rock structure to be used for rehabilitating coral reefs 

Day 3 - Eco-tourism

SST students exploring the marine life of the sea bed during low tides
SST water babies during snorkelling. 


Day 2 - WCS


SST students attending a talk by the Wildlife Conservation Society on the conservation of sharks

Day 2 - Shark Fins

Shark Fins being dried before export to Singapore, China and Hongkong

Day 2 - Tg Luar Fish Market

Fisherman cutting up the shark carcasses for processing and sale
Juvenile Sharks caught before they mature.

3. Final Programme

Day 1
Thurs (6 Nov)
Depart Singapore Arrival in Lombok Check in to Novotel at Kuta Beach
EQ: What is the habitat of the sharks?

EU: understanding the conditions favourable for hammerhead and reef sharks 
LO: To understand the role of the top feeder in the eco-system and the need to protect it from over-fishing.

Day 2 Fri (7 Nov)
AM - Head to Tanjung Luar fish market for information gathering and survey of seafood and sharks caught at the fish market Local lunch at the fish market, visit homes and schools of the local fishermen

EQ: Why are sharks caught?
EU: understand the supply chain of shark fin soup and who profits from the chain

EU: understand the shark fishermen and their livelihood of fishing village
EU: understand their lifestyle and community needs
LO: To be able to find the reason behind Shark exploitation.

PM - Visit the Wildlife Conservation Society at Mataram

EQ: How can we protect the sharks?
EU: understand how the marine food cycle works 
EU: understand how the reefs form an integral part of the marine eco-system
EU: understand the alternative fishing practices to sustain the marine population in the long term
EU: understand the alternatives available to shark fishermen to make a livelihood
LO: To be able find alternative practices behind shark conservation
(a) Controlled fishing including sharks 
(b) Conservation of reefs as nurseries

Day 3 Sat (8 Nov)
Head back to Tanjung Luar fish market for ecotourism boat trip to Sunken Island and Pink Beach as part of an eco-tourism package

EQ: What are the problems of eco-tourism?
EU: understand the risks involved in eco-tourism 
LO: To be able to realise that eco-tourism do damage to the environment by
(a) Littering
(b) Picking of tokens
(c) Damaging corals during scuba diving or snorkelling  


Day 4 Sun (9 Nov)

AM – head to Gili Trawangan Island
PM – visiting visiting Gili Eco Trust at Gili Islands and finding out about the work that they do (Biorock project)

EQ: What are the possible alternatives that we can adopt to protect the sharks from over-exploitation
EU: understand the economic impact of tourism in Gili and Senggigi area

EU: understand the need to engage local communities to boost ecotourism by taking advantage over their marine biodiversity
EU: understand the rehabilitation efforts taken by NGOs in protecting the reefs in Lombok area
LO: To be able to find alternatives for the fisherman so that the sharks will be protected
(a) Conversion to Eco-tourism

(b) Employ the fishermen to rehabilitate the damaged coral reefs for the Bio-Rocks project 

Day 5 Mon (10 Nov)
Beach Clean up 
Travel from Gili Island to Airport Depart Lombok

EQ: What are the different types of litter in the Kuta Beach area?
EU: understand the environmental impact of humans on the Kuta Beach area
EU: understand that it is not an easy way to reduce the impact of humans on the environment through Beach Cleanups.
LO: 
(a) To collect and identify the main types of rubbish so that we know the types of litter that contributed to the beach litter problem
(b) To realise that there should be a transport and disposal system for the collected rubbish 

After the trip

EQ: What is the root of the exploitation?

EU: The Chinese Cuisine and the Singaporean diet of Shark Fin soup is the main cause of the demand for Shark fins. When the demand drops, the killing will stop.
LO: To educate the general public in Singapore about the need to cut or remove the demand for Shark-fin Soup in Chinese dinner.
 (One good example is to educate the SST students about the dangers of eating shark fin soup. It can be done through a blog, an assembly talk and a poster exhibition)

2. Trip Objectives



To learn about marine life and food webs and how human impact has an effect on marine populations and apex predators as well as what we can do. We are all interconnected with the biodiversity of the world and we have a responsibility towards the stewardship of our resources and other earthlings.

Specifically, in this context, to understand that

(a)  sharks are important in the marine ecosystem as apex predators and their removal will result in overpopulation of meso-predators and fishing down of food webs 

(b)  sharks are exploited for local consumption back in Singapore and demand fuels a lucrative supply chain involving other fishing countries.

(c)  fishermen need a livelihood but they are also exploited in the supply chain of shark finning and fishing industry as well, and require a sustainable and economically viable alternative. 

1. Destination & Rationale


Lombok, Indonesia.
5 days 4 nights Marine Conservation Field Trip

Lombok is chosen as the destination for the 5D4N Marine Conservation trip because:
  • It straddles across the Wallace line of biodiversity 
  • It is home to many species of the Sharks family 
  • It is the place where the sharks are being exploited 
  • It is also the place where Marine Conservation efforts are being carried out 

The Marine Conservation Trip also affords the delivery of the 4Cs that SST TDP Learning outcomes stand for: 
  • Collaboration – students work in teams of 3 to 4 to complete a project
  • Communication – students present their ideas verbally, through videos and
    posters to bring about the message of conservation
  • Citizenship – students learn about how the Singaporean diet has indirectly
    caused the exploitation of sharks
  • Cross-cultural understanding – students learn about how the Chinese culture
    (cuisine) results in the exploitation of the sharks 

Lombok GCP 2014

Welcome to the Lombok GCP 2014 page,

In this page we will post about our experiences in Lombok from 6 to 10 Nov 2014.

This is a Science Global Citizenship Programme conducted for selected Sec 2 and 3 Science TDP students.

More posts will be up later.