Research and conservation of dugong in Thailand

Abstract

Dugongs are rarely seen in Thailand, although they have distributed along coastlines both in the Andaman Sea and the Gulf of Thailand. The most abundant area of dugong is at Talibong-Muk Islands, Trang Province. Aerial surveys of dugong population along the Andaman Sea coast in 1997 and 1999 have been conducted and 50 and 38 dugongs were observed, respectively. So far, age determination had been made on 12 dugongs and the range of their ages was 1-43 years. Recently stomach contents of 6 dugongs have been investigated and 9 species of seagrasses were found in their stomachs. The composition of seagrasses found in dugong stomachs may be affected by the composition of seagrasses presented in dugong's feeding ground. Dugongs were occasionally entangled in fishing gears. Among various types of fishing gears, gill nets were the main cause of the death of dugongs. The principal strategies to conserve the dugong in Thailand are : 1) to act of limiting or reducing some activities, which do harm dugong lives, such as the type of fishing gear, illegal fishing, speed boat, and tourism activity in seagrass beds and dugong habitats, 2) to promote the specific areas as national dugong sanctuaries, for instance, Talibong-Muk Islands in Trang Province, Sriboya-Cham-Pu Islands in Krabi Province, 3) to provide education and to increase public awareness on dugong and seagrass resources conservation, and 4) to promote a network of well-managed marine protected areas, which will conserve key dugong feedings sites through the both coastlines.