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The Present Status <strong>of</strong> Population and Protection <strong>of</strong> Dugongs in ChineseWatersHan, Jiabo; Wang, PeilieMarine Fisheries Research Institute <strong>of</strong> Liaoning Province, No.50, Heishijiao Road, Dalian, 116023, PRC;e-mail: Jbhan@sina.comThe dugongs <strong>of</strong>f coastal <strong>of</strong> China are considered as <strong>the</strong> original geographic population. Dugongsare primarily distributed along <strong>the</strong> coastal waters <strong>of</strong> Hainan Province and Guangxi ZhuangAutonomous Region (GZAR) <strong>of</strong> China, and historical records also showed occasional occurrencesin western Guangdong Province and sou<strong>the</strong>rn waters <strong>of</strong> Taiwan. Due to massive hunt along<strong>the</strong> coast by fishermen from 1958 to 1962, <strong>the</strong> resource <strong>of</strong> dugongs was seriously diminishedclose to local extinction level. The Chinese government listed <strong>the</strong> dugong as “Grade 1 NationalProtected Species” in 1983 and prohibited any direct hunt, but <strong>the</strong> protection action did notsucceed efficiently. In 1988 <strong>the</strong> Chinese government listed <strong>the</strong> dugong among <strong>the</strong> importantprotective wild animals <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> first order. In addition, <strong>the</strong> National Hepu State Dugong NaturalReserve was established in GZAR in 1991. However, <strong>the</strong>re was no evidence <strong>of</strong> dugong populationrecovery. In 1996 and 1997, <strong>the</strong>re were occurrences <strong>of</strong> dugong death in GZAR. According to recentinformation, <strong>the</strong>re were sighting <strong>of</strong> dugongs in small group in <strong>the</strong> coastal waters <strong>of</strong> Hepu <strong>of</strong> GZARand Dongfang <strong>of</strong> Hainan Province in 1998 and 2000 respectively, which provides pro<strong>of</strong>s that <strong>the</strong>dugongs are not locally extinct yet in Chinese waters. The threats to this species are mainly from<strong>the</strong> human activities and <strong>the</strong> habitat reduction causing by environmental deterioration. In orderto prevent <strong>the</strong> dugongs from disappearing and locally extinct in <strong>the</strong> Chinese waters, <strong>the</strong> fur<strong>the</strong>rprotective measures are urgently needed. Therefore, it is recommended that <strong>the</strong> establishment<strong>of</strong> Dugong Natural Reserve should be sought in <strong>the</strong> immediate future.<strong>Second</strong> <strong>Workshop</strong> on <strong>the</strong> Biology and Conservation <strong>of</strong> Small Cetaceans and Dugongs <strong>of</strong> SE Asia 139
Conservation <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Dugong (Dugong dugon) in ThailandHines, Ellen 1 ; Adulyanukosol, Kanjana 2(1) Department <strong>of</strong> Geography and Human Environmental Studies, San Francisco State University, 1600Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94132 USA; e-mail: ehines@sfsu.edu(2) Phuket Marine Biological Center, PO Box 60, Phuket 83000 ThailandOnce commonly seen along tropical coasts from East Africa to Australia, dugongs are currentlyconsidered rare over most <strong>of</strong> this range. The IUCN classifies <strong>the</strong> dugong as vulnerable on aglobal scale based on declines in occurrence and quality <strong>of</strong> habitat, and human exploitation. TheConvention on International Trade in Endangered Species <strong>of</strong> Wild Flora and Fauna (CITES) hasbanned international trade in dugong products.In Thailand, dugongs used to be seen regularly along <strong>the</strong> Andaman and Gulf <strong>of</strong> Thailand coasts,but are now largely confined to islands <strong>of</strong>f <strong>the</strong> Andaman coast. The dugong in Thailand hasbeen declares a reserved and protected marine species un <strong>the</strong> Thai Fisheries Act since 1947. Weestimate <strong>the</strong> number <strong>of</strong> dugongs remaining in Thailand to be approximately 200. Trang Province,along <strong>the</strong> Andaman coast in sou<strong>the</strong>rn Thailand, is a primary feeding site for dugongs, and has<strong>the</strong> largest population group <strong>of</strong> dugongs remaining in Thailand. One <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> largest threats for<strong>the</strong> dugong in coastal Thailand is that <strong>of</strong> being caught in stationary nets, gillnets, and pushnettrawlers. It is also believed that dugongs are being actively hunted in <strong>the</strong> eastern Gulf. The meat<strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> dugong is considered delicious. Dugong oil, teeth, tusks, and bones are considered tohave valuable medicinal properties, and are also commonly used as protective amulets. A pair<strong>of</strong> tusks can be sold for as much as 15,000 Thai baht (approximately US$320). Dugong tears,a mucous secretion that protects <strong>the</strong> eyes, are commonly considered a powerful aphrodisiac.However, incidental catch and entanglement in fishing gears is <strong>the</strong> largest threat to dugongs.Among various types <strong>of</strong> gears, gillnets are considered to be <strong>the</strong> main cause <strong>of</strong> death for dugongs.While most incidents <strong>of</strong> entanglement are not reported, <strong>the</strong> numbers <strong>of</strong> by-catch deaths that arereported place <strong>the</strong> dugong population <strong>of</strong> Thailand in imminent danger <strong>of</strong> extirpation.140 CMS Technical Series Publication Nº 9 - 2005
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CMS Technical Series Publication N
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Published by the U
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TABLE OF CONTENTSpage1. Preliminari
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AppendicesAppendix 1 - List <strong
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8 CMS Technical Series Publication
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10 CMS Technical Series Publication
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The cetacean species reviewed inclu
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Table 1. Major commercial Commonwea
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(2) State Legislation.In state wate
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(2) Identification of</stro
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Coastal speciesThe most frequently
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Coastal speciesThere are currently
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and Guangxi Provinces (Yang et al.
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Table 3. Records of</strong
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can be viewed as the</stron
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Workshop participa
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ioaccumulation have not yet been ex
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of fishermen who h
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are supplied to scholars and organi
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threats. Many marine mammal populat
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waters or recognize important inter
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James Cook University (Queensland,
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the last ten years
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proactive in engaging more staff an
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of SE Asia. Two sp
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San Francisco (Negros Oriental); Li
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Legal status and present management
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within 15 kilometers from t
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US, has actively participated in ce
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the project was su
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Recently, the camp
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Mekong River downstream of<
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porpoises in tropical waters <stron
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species in the Ind
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Population/stock structureNo new in
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Needs for additional researchStock
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waters of SE Asia,
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caused mortality is certainly large
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Needs for additional researchProper
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from SE Asia, it is known to occur
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3.1.7 AustraliaDugongs occur all al
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Table 8. Conservation objectives id
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Page 91 and 92: Table 10. Outline of</stron
Page 93 and 94: The group agreed that this set <str
Page 95 and 96: 6. SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONSThe works
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Page 99 and 100: Bank, E. 1931. A popular account <s
Page 101 and 102: Dalebout, M. L., J. G. Mead, C. Sco
Page 103 and 104: Jaaman, S. A., E. Tangon, I. Isnain
Page 105 and 106: Lin, Y.-J. 1997. Mitochondrial DNA
Page 107 and 108: Smith, B.D., T. A. Jefferson, D. Ho
Page 109 and 110: Yang, W.-C. 2000. Morbillivirus inf
Page 111 and 112: CHOU Lien-SiangDepartment o
Page 113 and 114: Brian D. SMITHWildlife Conservation
Page 115 and 116: APPENDIX 3Agenda1. Preliminaries2.
Page 117 and 118: Doc. 22 Dugong conservation activit
Page 119 and 120: AreaDatesSurveyTypeEffortSpeciesNo.
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Page 129 and 130: f) recognizing that by-catch in fis
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Page 133 and 134: APPENDIX 9Abstracts of</str
Page 135 and 136: The (IUCN Critically Endangered) Du
Page 137 and 138: Status of
Page 139: Cetacean Habitats in the</s
Page 143 and 144: Summary of Current
Page 145 and 146: Indonesia’s Cetacean Migration Co
Page 147 and 148: Conservation Effort to Protect <str
Page 149 and 150: The Status of <str
Page 151 and 152: Can the Developing
Page 153 and 154: Status and Conservation of<
Page 155 and 156: Legal Hunting of C
Page 157 and 158: Indo-Pacific Bottlenose Dolphins (T
Page 159 and 160: Feasibility Study of</stron
Page 161 and 162: Songs of a Humpbac
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