Farmers of the ocean: India’s dugongs should keep a conservation priority-OxBig News Network

Waving meadows of emerald grasses half as a portly form drifts by means of the shallow waters. Like a blimp led astray, the creature makes use of its entrance flippers to paddle gently because it nibbles on the seagrass that makes its dwelling. Silt stirs from the shallow seafloor, coral reefs reveal themselves in a riot of colors, with shoals of fish scurrying out of the best way, and a whole ecosystem comes into view.

Meet the dugong — the farmer of the ocean.

May 28 is well known yearly as World Dugong Day. Dugongs (Dugong dugon) are the one herbivorous mammals present in India’s marine ecosystems. This mild large — often called the ocean cow however resembling a cross between a seal and a whale — is distributed by means of the Indo-Pacific area. Due to their dependence on seagrass beds for habitat and meals, dugongs are restricted to shallow waters, the place they spend the day feeding on seagrasses of the genera Cymodocea, Halophila, Thalassia, and Halodule. They root on the base of shorter seagrass species, consuming rhizomes, stems, and leaves, thus clouding the shallow waters. This is how they earned their epitaph. (Also see the addendum.)

Seagrass is low in vitamins, so dugongs feed extensively all through the day to fulfill their day by day necessities. They can eat 20-30 tonnes of seagrass per day, crushing leaves and stems towards their horned enamel earlier than swallowing. Unlike different marine mammals, the best way they eat permits dugongs to digest cellulose, though the method wears down their enamel rapidly. For this purpose, dugongs quickly regrow enamel in a number of iterations all through their lives.

Unlike manatees, their shut family, dugongs are extra strictly marine, preferring waters a couple of metres deep. They are discovered alongside the Indian shoreline, primarily inhabiting heat waters across the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, the Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay, and the Gulf of Kutch. The dugong is a long-lived species, capable of stay as much as 70 years.

Dugongs are additionally usually solitary or present in small mother-calf pairs. Researchers have often noticed small teams, however massive herds — as are widespread in Australian waters — are uncommon in India.

Individuals attain reproductive maturity after solely 9 or ten years and may give delivery at intervals of round three to 5 years. Due to its sluggish reproductive cycle, prolonged time to maturity, and rare calving, a dugong inhabitants’s most potential progress fee is estimated to be nearly 5% per 12 months.

Threatened waters

But for his or her unassuming nature, dugongs are listed as being ‘vulnerable’ on the IUCN Red List for Threatened Species. The threats they face worldwide embrace quickly declining populations and the continuing degradation of their seagrass habitats. In India, they’re labeled as ‘regionally endangered’. Once widespread in Indian waters, their numbers have dwindled to an estimated 200 people, with each their inhabitants dimension and geographic vary persevering with to say no.

According to analysis by impartial marine researcher Prachi Hatkar, coastal areas round India are more and more below strain from increasing residential, leisure, and agricultural actions. As extra individuals stake declare to those areas, the chance of air pollution rises. Pollution may have an effect on them immediately, with research displaying the buildup of mercury and organochlorine compounds of their muscle tissues.

Because dugongs reproduce slowly and require huge, undisturbed seagrass meadows to thrive, their populations are extremely susceptible to human disturbances. Seagrass meadows, their major habitats, are being misplaced at an alarming fee. Primary threats stem from altering fishing strategies, which threaten the meadows. Fishers as soon as relied on non-mechanised boats to fish in shallow waters, together with seagrass habitats. But with the arrival of contemporary fishing applied sciences, these conventional boats have steadily given method to mechanised ones.

The development of ports, dredging, and land reclamation for industries and tourism have additionally wreaked havoc on these delicate ecosystems, and air pollution from agricultural runoff, sewage, and industrial effluents have degraded water high quality, affecting seagrass well being.

The ever-present menace of local weather change, perceptible in rising sea temperatures, ocean acidification, and excessive climate occasions like cyclones, additionally impacts seagrass ecosystems, decreasing the provision of meals in addition to secure breeding habitats for dugongs.

Another main menace to dugong populations in Indian waters is unintended entanglement in fishing gear, particularly gillnets and trawl nets. Dugongs are air-breathing mammals that should floor usually. But as soon as entangled, they typically drown earlier than fishers can launch them. Many of those deaths go unreported, additional complicating conservation efforts.

Increased human motion and exercise in dugong habitats and extra boat site visitors within the Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay, and the Gulf of Kachchh — all immediately threaten the species. Dugongs additionally typically relaxation close to the floor, making them susceptible to collisions with fast-moving boats, resulting in accidents or fatalities.

Yet one other menace is illegitimate looking. While dugongs are a Schedule I species in India, having fun with the very best degree of safety granted by regulation, poaching nonetheless happens, particularly within the distant areas of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

Way to the longer term

Unlike manatees, dugongs are shy creatures, preferring to keep away from interacting with people when doable. This creates a normal lack of knowledge in regards to the species, even amongst coastal and fishing communities, in addition to much less consideration from the bigger conservation group. India has been occasion to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals since 1983 and has additionally been a signatory to the Convention’s Memorandum of Understanding on Dugong Conservation and Habitat Management throughout their vary since 2008.

In 2022, the Government of India formally introduced the creation of the nation’s first dugong conservation reserve, spanning 448.3 sq. km within the coastal waters of Palk Bay, Tamil Nadu. Recent research have indicated that this bay is the final stronghold for these mild herbivores in Indian waters, and the proposed reserve space has round 122.5 sq. km of intact seagrass beds, making certain habitat and meals for the dugong inhabitants.

This transfer, to guard the species at a nationwide degree, stems from long-term monitoring and analysis by the OMCAR Foundation (an NGO), the Wildlife Institute of India, and the Tamil Nadu Forest Department: they’ve been working to enhance dugong conservation and seagrass restoration for greater than a decade. Their efforts can go a good distance in making certain the survival of dugongs and their delicate lives.

“Dugongs are gentle giants and act as gardeners of the sea, quietly shaping our oceans by nurturing seagrass meadows,” Ms. Hatkar stated. “But their survival now depends on ours — on how urgently we act to protect their fading habitats from pollution, coastal development, and neglect.”

Helping dugong conservation

An essential step individuals can take is to guard and restore seagrass habitats. To achieve this, we want rigorous mapping and monitoring of current seagrass meadows to establish extra precedence conservation areas, very like the Gulf of Mannar Biosphere Reserve. Activities that injury seagrass have to be restricted and community-led seagrass stewardship, together with involving native fishers to observe and restore seagrass, can go a good distance in sustaining the dugongs’ habitat. Regulating dangerous fishing practices, comparable to banning gill nets and backside trawling, in identified dugong habitats can even assist stop unintended entanglement.

We additionally want to advertise non-destructive, sustainable fishing methods that fisherfolk have used up to now. Alternative livelihood choices comparable to dugong-friendly ecotourism utilizing native youth as eco-guides can fulfil the twin position of monitoring dugong populations whereas elevating consciousness of their habitats and behavior, all whereas empowering native communities.

Increasing consciousness and group involvement have all the time been essential features of dugong conservation. Many conservation practitioners are conducting consciousness campaigns in coastal villages in regards to the ecological significance of dugongs, and lots of native communities and fishers are skilled to report dugong sightings or strandings, facilitating rescue operations when wanted.

Another essential aspect is strengthening analysis. Researchers want extra help, each monetary and institutional, for long-term research of dugong populations, behaviours, genetics, and threats. Developing citizen science programmes and utilizing the standard ecological data of native communities will add one other dimension to current analysis. Additionally, advances in tagging and drone expertise could be mobilised to trace dugong actions and establish vital habitats.

Addendum: why seagrass issues

Seagrass is an underwater flowering plant, to not be confused with seaweed. Classified as wetland ecosystems, seagrass meadows stabilise the seafloor, help fisheries, seize carbon, and shelter marine life. Healthy seagrass is important for dugongs and marine life comparable to turtles and fish. A 2022 examine by the National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management documented 516.59 sq. km of seagrass habitat in India. This interprets to a carbon dioxide sequestration potential of as much as 434.9 tonnes per sq. km annually.

India’s most in depth seagrass meadows happen alongside the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay, off the coast of Tamil Nadu, and collectively help greater than 13 species of seagrass — the very best variety within the Indian Ocean. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands additionally help wealthy seagrass beds and related biodiversity. While seagrass is current within the shallow reefs of the Lakshadweep Islands and alongside the coast of Kachchh, they’re patchy regardless of being ecologically important. In Kachchh particularly, port actions and air pollution threaten these coastal wetlands. The coast of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha additionally helps minor seagrass beds alongside estuaries, however these habitats should not in depth or appropriate for dugong populations right now.

Priya Ranganathan is a doctoral scholar and researcher on the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bengaluru.