Cyanide and blast fishing meet population explosion

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Construction of port and oil-processing facilities is severely degrading Singaporan reefs that otherwise are valuable ecotourist destinations. High sedimentation cuts the sunlight that reefs receive, limiting coral buildup to only the extreme shallows; coral cover has plunged by half on the nearshore reefs. Collection of fish and corals for aquariums is also impacting reefs.

As if that weren't enough to stress Singapore's corals, a collision between a Cyprus-registered tanker and a Thai supertanker in October 1997 spilled 25,000 tons of marine fuel that threatened to poison the country's only reefs. In order to break up the oil, roughly 100,000 liters of chemical dispersants had to be used; an oil expert assured nervous Singaporans that the dispersants "have a much lower toxicity than Palmolive soap."