Tanzania's dugongs under serious risk of extinction
WWF
Nairobi, Kenya - A new report reveals that Tanzania's population of dugongs
is on the verge of collapse as a result of accidental entanglement in gill nets.
The first national survey on the status of the dugong in the country reveals
that dugongs in Tanzania are now officially a rarity. The July 2003 report says
since January 2000, only 32 sightings of this once abundant sea mammal were
recorded. Of these, only eight were of live animals at sea. The rest, 75 per
cent, were dead having been entrapped and entangled in gillnets.
"It is clear that dugongs are now critically endangered in Tanzania, and
without immediate concerted conservation effort, they will almost certainly
become nationally extinct in the near future," the report warns.
The report is part of WWF's and UNEP's
joint implementation of the Nairobi Convention for the Protection, Management
and Development of the Marine and Coastal Environment of eastern Africa. It is
the first national report in a series looking at the dugong status from Kenya
all the way to the Comoros Islands.
Dugongs, also called sea cows, are herbivorous mammals that live in shallow
sheltered waters. They are descendants of terrestrial swamp browsers that lived
about 55 million years ago. Their closest living relative is the elephant.
Dugongs grow to 3.5m in length and to 400kg in adulthood, and live to about 70
years.
Dugongs were historically a prized source of protein and oil, which was used
for cooking, waterproofing boats, and occassionally for treating a variety of
ailments along the eastern Africa coast.
They are believed to be the most endangered large mammal in Africa, with
growing concern that they are faced with extinction in eastern Africa.
In Kenya, where herds of up to 80 animals were reported in 1996, surveys in
2002 counted five to eight dugongs in areas believed to have been the most
important dugong habitats.
Tanzania's dugong population is estimated to be less than 100 individuals, a
level so low that scientists doubt they can recover. In the 1960s, herds of 20
to 30 dugongs were frequently sighted along the Tanzanian coast, gillnet
fishermen reporting capturing up to five dugongs in any given day. The situation
has since changed dramatically. From the year 2000, eight to ten dugongs are
captured every year in Tanzania.
"The perception in all areas along the Tanzania coast and its islands is
that it may already be too late for dugong populations to recover," the
report says. "Unless immediate measures are taken to mitigate the threats
and protect their habitat, the future of the dugong in Tanzania must at least be
deemed uncertain."
WWF and other conservation organizations in the region are recommending more
comprehensive studies in the remaining dugong habitats to establish the exact
dugong populations, their habitat ranges and the extent of the threats as the
basis for appropriate interventions.
More information
Dr. Amani Ngusaru
Programme Coordinator,
WWF's Eastern African Marine Ecoregion
Tel: +255 22 2775346/2772455/27700077
E-Mail: angusaru@wwftz.org
Reproduced with permission from WWF. © 2002 WWF-- World Wide Fund For
Nature. (Formerly World Wildlife Fund). All rights reserved
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