Saving Dugongs in India

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*Ahmedabad, November 3:* On the wildlife front, the Gujarat Ecological

Education and Research (GEER) Foundation soon plans to test Gujarat's waters

for the world's only herbivorous aquatic mammals, dugongs or sea cow. The

reason: a recent study by the United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP)

highlights the need for comprehensive action in terms of research on and

conservation of the species whose status has undergone a sea change,

especially when it comes to smaller habitats like the Gulf of Kutch.

 

Dugongs are protected as Schedule-I endangered species by Wildlife

Protection Act 1972 in India.

 

[image: Advertisement] While at least three quarters of dugongs (85,000)

are found in Australia, their numbers in smaller habitats have been

dwindling steadily, according to recent studies by environmentalists. In

certain cases, the dugongs have disappeared completely.

 

" Hence, the Indian coast has been highlighted as a priority area for

research by the UNEP, " said C N Pandey, Director of GEER Foundation. For,

when it comes to comprehensive data on the most endangered large mammal in

the Asian sub-continent or even the threats faced by it, most researchers

are at sea, he said. The study will be the first comprehensive study in

India, he claimed. " In India, dugongs are found in the Gulf of Kutch, Gulf

of Mannar and Palk Bay in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. But information

on their distribution and numbers is scarce and comes mostly from anecdotal

reports and incidental sightings,'' he said.

 

In fact, while herds of many hundreds of dugongs were sighted in Palk

Straits between India and Sri Lanka earlier, mostly dead dugongs have been

sighted in the recent past.

 

" Besides hunting and incidental net captures, coastal development and the

resultant pollution pose a threat to dugongs. The demand for using coastal

zones for residential, recreational and agricultural purposes is rising.

These activities will make the coastal zone more susceptible to pollution,

which will result in the destruction and degradation of sea grass beds, the

habitats of dugongs, " said Pandey.

 

And they are more susceptible to extinction because of their habitat

requirements but also because of the slow rate of reproduction. But in order

to chalk out a plan for their conservation, a lot of data is needed, which

India lacks, he said.