Kusu
Island
Habitats:
Two sandy-silty lagoons. Northern lagoon with sparse seagrass (Halophila
ovalis) and reefy on the inside of the seawall. Narrow reefy rubble
outside the seawalls with denser corals on northern edge and on western
tip.
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1° 13.419'N 103° 51.621'E
14ha, 600m x 200m
(from Google
Earth and Earth
Point)
Facilities: Jetty, public toilet with freshwater, many
shelters and picnic benches. Daily ferry service. |
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Conservation
status: Listed for use as 'Sports and Recreation' in the
URA
Master Plan 2008, i.e., "Area to be used or intended to be
used mainly for sports and recreational purposes." The temple
and shrine are listed as 'Civic and Community Institution', i.e.,
"Areas used or intended to be used mainly for civic, community
or cultural facilities or other similar purposes." Listed as
'Park/Open Space' in Parks
and Waterbodies Plan. It is managed by Sentosa
Leisure Group.
Current conservation activities: It
is one of the survey sites of underwater
coral reef surveys by ReefFriends
of NParks
and the Blue Water Volunteers.
The intertidal area is also regularly surveyed by wildsingapore.
History: Kusu Island was originally
1.2 ha, largely made up of living reef. In 1900-1930, the temple on
Kusu Island was surrounded by water at high tide. In 1975, there was
massive reclamation "to join it with another coral outcrop, making
a 8.5ha island resort".
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About
the name: Kusu=Tortoise. Some accounts
say that the island originally comprised two portions
which resembled a sea turtle with a larger part resembling
the shell and a smaller portion the turtle's head emerging
from the sea. |
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| Blog
posts about Kusu Island on wild shores of singapore |
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