Huge abandoned net at Kranji (10 Mar 2017)

A huge net was abandoned wrapped around a mangrove tree at Kranji.

The supergals -- Ywee Chieh and Su -- easily removed it. Fortunately, one small Mangrove horseshoe crab was released and we only saw remains of another horseshoe crab and one small crab.


The net was obviously abandoned for some time as the plastic monofilament was already brittle and easily broken with a few tugs. But the thick nylon ropes still had to be cut.

The first part of the net on one side of the tree was easy to remove (you can see the other part of the net still on the tree in the photo on the left).

The remaining part of the net was half buried, and the tree roots had started to grow entangled in the net. But we eventually managed to remove it and it was twice as big as the first part! We estimate the total net volume is about 1m x 1cm x 50cm

The ladies remove the huge pile of nets through the shortest route, but which involved a lot of bending.

One small Mangrove horseshoe crab was released alive

This one was already crispy and dead.

I can just feel the tree breathing easier with the net removed! Thank you Ywee Chieh and Su!

It didn't take long for us to remove the net. If only those who used the net just took the few extra steps and a few minutes to dispose of the net properly. Then animals will not be constantly trapped in the net. During my last visit here in Jul 2012, we also saw an abandoned net with about 80 horseshoe crabs trapped in it. It's so heartbreaking that people are not more responsible when fishing on our shores.