Labrador Beach: Case Study

I borrowed several books from Mr. Early some time ago and one of them was called "Rhythm of the Sea: The Life and Times of Labrador Beach". It's a book filled with glossy pages with a lot of photographs of Labrador beach.


Frankly, before looking through the book, I didn't really know much about Labrador Beach except for snippets that I grabbed from the web about students going there to see the reef for its biodiversity. It's supposed to be the last rocky shore or reef on the Singapore mainland or something similar to that. I also knew from it's Wikipedia page (which doesn't have much information on it, actually), that it used to be a nature reserve but was later downgraded to that of a nature park.

Flipping through the pages of the book, I've realized that its mostly about the species of organisms you can find out there. Labrador beach takes immense pride in its biodiversity and plethora of species. The photos are nice even though the water looks really murky (I thought reefs needed clear waters?). One of my favorite pictures is on page 75 of the Ozlus guttatus crab. Did you know that the Smart Alec octopus is believed to be the smartest of all invertebrates? It's been suggested that it may be capable of conscious thought and can learn.

So here's the case study: Labrador beach is about 300 meters long. As stated before, it is Singapore's last remaining rocky shore - other areas have been reclaimed or covered with sand in numerous "beach-improvement" schemes. But now, recent developments on the Southern coastline threaten the Labrador stretch of beach (I've attempted to visit, and the book is right, there's a lot of construction sites).

Have I already mentioned that Labrador beach is the only place in SG with a decent stretch of corals? Well, it is.

Anyway, in the book, Labrador beach has been coined as a "living labratory" that has been often used by marine biologists and students. Many research work has taken place here (especially with rare or new species of organisms). Programs and training (like that of 3 generations of university staff) have taken place here - the book argues that the demise of Labrador beach "would not only waste all previous training efforts, but it would also curtail any future attempts at cultivating a love and respect for the seashore in our future generations".

The book's epilogue concludes the case study by making several quick points:

Conservation is difficult in "land-hungry Singapore", which makes it a difficult and controversal issue. Many sacrifices have been made for economic gain in the name of "progress". We have all grown up in a world that is used to squandering its resources. Because of that, once, long ago, we "plead[ed] ignorance and necessity in our continued assault on Mother Nature."

[Quote] "It is sad to note that while many governments and people are prepared to pay enormous sums of money to conserve a piece of art, building, or culture, the same kind of sentiment hardly exists for their natural heritage."

The book doesn't really expand on what exactly we can do, but the fact that Labrador beach is now a protected sanctuary would probably make Singaporeans feel proud of this great natural resource that they have (and they should be).

posted by Sage @ 8/29/2008 11:49:00 AM Comments: 0