Reefs in Brief: Singapore as petrochemical hub; Artificial reefs

What is the impact of coastal developments and industrial production on our marine life?

Are artificial reefs a solution?

And latest blog entries on the situation at Labrador, Chek Jawa

And during the last dive for the year at Pulau Semakau, an amazing coral shrimp! Photo by sonnenblume on the colourful clouds blog

In a letter to ST, Felix Ang Kok Hou outlines the dangers of Singapore as petrochemical hub and the need to strike a balance between the economy and the environment. While a review of Singapore shipping: Green issues in the new year, oil spills, sulphur and CO2 emissions were discussed. The impact of water quality on the marine food chain was examined in an interview with Dr Suree Satapoomin of the Phuket Marine Biological Centre.

If things get bad, will our corals move away? See Australian corals might migrate south: scientists.

There was a review of artificial reefs in Concerns linger over success of artificial reefs, and one of the views was ""You can't just destroy a natural reef and put out an artificial reef as a replacement. Artificial reefs may help offset the growing worldwide loss of natural reefs a little bit, but they should not be the only answer."

While in an interview with Dr Nancy Knowlton, she says: "The one big issue with restoration is that there’s no point in doing anything about it, if you haven’t eliminated the original causes of coral reef decline. Because then the same things will happen with the restored reefs". Dr Knowlton is professor at Scripps Institute of Oceanography and lead of the Smithsonian's Ocean Initiative.

Meanwhile, there's been updates on our Labrador Nature Reserve shore on the reddot blog; a flurry of visits to Chek Jawa to monitor the recovery including a special Christmas session on the cj project blog; and a wonderful last dive of the year at Pulau Semakau on the colourful clouds blog.