Dugongs recovering, need cross-border efforts in conservation

A thriving population of more than 200 dugongs, a regionally endangered marine mammals, has made the Dugong Conservation Reserve in Palk Bay and the neighbouring Gulf of Mannar (together known as the PB-GoM region) their habitat, according to a 2023-24 drone survey by the Wildlife Institute of India (WII.

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Gulf of Mannar (top) and Palk Bay (bottom) separated by a narrow strip of land between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka. Image by NASA

This recovery of the dugong population, according to WII, has been enabled through a multipronged conservation approach, including awareness programmes for fishers, habitat restoration, community outreach, and an upgraded reward system for rescue and release.

“WII is yet to release the latest survey report at Palk Bay carried out in 2024, but the estimation points to a thriving number of more than 200 healthy, adult dugongs in Palk Bay and the Gulf of Mannar region, which are contiguous habitats for the dugong, a semi-migratory animal,” says J. Antony Johnson, the chief scientist at the National Dugong Recovery Programme, WII.

K. Sivakumar, professor at Pondicherry University and a former WII scientist, however, estimates close to 300 dugongs in the PB-GoM region.

In 2022, the Tamil Nadu government declared about 500 square kilometres of Palk Bay as India’s first Dugong Conservation Reserve, strengthening ground-level protection. “Bottom trawlers can operate only five nautical miles from shore. Purse seine and shore seine nets were banned in 2020. Regulation measures, including daily passes and speed limits for mechanised boats, are enforced,” says Mani Venkatesh, Forest Range Officer in Pudukkottai district.

Popularly known as sea cows, dugongs (Dugong dugon) are herbivorous marine mammals. As a part of the Afrotheria evolutionary group, they are closely related to elephants. “Dugongs live up to 70 years and bear a single calf after a gestation period of 14 months. They are social animals and tend their young for up to two years. They communicate through touch, sound, and vision, and conserving them is a part of our national and biological heritage,” says Balaji Vedharajan of the OMCAR Foundation, who is part of the project.