New nations sign conservation mission

A dugong and cleaner fish graze on a bed of seagrass at Marsa Alam in the Red Sea off Egypt.

This strange-looking creature is big, shy, vegetarian, harmless - and at risk. But yesterday the prospects of survival for the dugong brightened a little with the opening of an international conservation meeting in Abu Dhabi. A cousin of the manatee and a distant relative of the elephant, the dugong is among a number of marine mammals that are increasingly under pressure from human activities. Efforts to protect this vulnerable animal are led by 13 countries, signatories to the Memorandum of Understanding on the Conservation and Management of Dugongs and their Habitats throughout their Range. The agreement comes under the framework of the United Nations Convention on Migratory Species. It is administered from an office in Abu Dhabi.

On Sunday, a day before the beginning of the signatories' first official meeting in the UAE capital, the document was signed by two more states - Yemen and Bahrain. Yesterday, Palau, Seychelles and Vanuatu joined the coalition, bringing the total to 18 members. Dugongs live in 48 countries, in the warm coastal waters of the Indian Ocean, the Red Sea and the Pacific Ocean. "Dugongs assume an important role beyond their status as vulnerable species," said Dr Thabit Zahran al Abdessalaam, director of the biodiversity sector at the Environment Agency - Abu Dhabi, which is hosting the meeting. Being closely related to sensitive habitats such as coral reefs, mangroves and, especially, seagrass beds where they forage, dugongs can be used as indicators of the health of an ecosystem as a whole.

"If there are problems, you will immediately spot them," he said. Among marine mammals, the dugong is unique in being the only species that is completely herbivorous. It spends its time grazing seagrass beds, swimming up to the surface every five to six minutes to breathe. It can grow to between two and three metres in length and weigh up to 400 kilograms. The skin is deep grey or brown and they have a flat, two-pointed tail that propels them through the water. Instead of front limbs, they have flippers that they use to steer.

The UAE has the world's second largest dugong population, most living in the shallow and calm seagrass beds along the Abu Dhabi coast. The population is stable, with a count from January suggesting 2,840 animals, Dr al Abdessalaam said. But the health of this population depends not only on what Abu Dhabi is doing but also on policies in Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which have so far not signed the agreement.

Globally, the dugong is listed as vulnerable, which means it is not as close to becoming extinct and hence not so high on the conservation agenda as some species of sharks, for example. However, Helene Marsh, a professor of environmental science at James Cook University in Australia, said "the situation is different in different parts of the range". Even in Australia, which has the world's largest number of dugongs and has long worked to protect them, the situation varies with some populations being secure and others not, she said. South Asia and the Southern Indian Ocean region are the areas of biggest concern.

"In countries such as Palau, for example, the dugong is critically endangered," she said. Dugongs take a long time to reproduce and this is what makes them especially vulnerable. "They have a lifespan very similar to people," said Prof Marsh, adding that females need to be at least seven years old to produce their first calf. In addition, a female will be pregnant for more than a year and suckle her calf for up to two years.

"Considering all this, the most important thing is that you have to keep alive as many adults as possible," she said. "In countries with small dugong populations, even killing one per year in a net, really matters." Entanglement in fishing nets is the main cause of dugong deaths, especially in developing countries. In the UAE and other countries in the region, the main problem is dredging activities for coastal reclamation that destroy the seagrass beds on which dugongs feed.

"I think the biggest challenge here is to get the balance right between coastal development and conservation," Prof Marsh said.

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