Saving the dugong

Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Michael Defensor has ordered the DENR CARAGA Region to investigate reports of rampant slaughter of "dugongs" or sea cows in Surigao Del Sur.

Reports coming from the Center for Empowerment and Resource Development, Inc. (CERD), an NGO partner of DENR in "pawikan" or marine turtle and "dugong" conservations, disclosed that a 500-kilo male dugong measuring nine feet was washed ashore on Tipdos Island in Hinatuan Bay, Surigao Del Sur last Sept. 3, 2004.

A day later, a 900-kilo female "dugong" was found beached at an island seven kilometers away. A week later, another dead "dugong" was found floating around the same area. It was believed that the same group of dynamite fishers from a neighboring area/municipality were involved.

The islands of Tipdos, Maowa and Mancahurom in Hinatuan Bay are uninhabited, giving opportunity to fishermen to engage in dynamite fishing.

The DENR, together with the CERD and the municipal government of Hinatuan, has conducted extensive information campaign on their conservation in the coastal areas of the municipality. While residents are now actively participating in the campaign, unscrupulous fishermen from neighboring municipalities are still rampantly killing and selling "dugongs" and "pawikans."

Dugong is the only remaining herbivorous sea mammal found in the country particularly in Palawan. Sightings have been reported in the eastern coast of Luzon from Isabel to Albay, Romblon, and in some parts of Visayas and Mindanao like Surigao. It belongs to the group of animals known as Sirenians because during the olden days sailors mistook it for mermaid or "sirenas". It is the only remaining survivor of the family "Dugongdae".

Dugongs, like whale and dolphins, have to surface from the water to breathe. Dugongs are the only living mammals in the world that feed on sea grass. They spend most of their time feeding and consuming up to 25 kilograms of sea grass a day. It has been observed that their birth rates peak when there is an abundant supply of sea grass. Even so, their growth rate is so slow that their number increases only by 50 percent yearly even without exploitation. A calf is born 13 months after the mating. A newly born dugong is about a meter long and weighs from 20 to 35 kilograms.

Dugong are slow swimmers. They swim at a speed of about 5 kilometers per hour, thus fishermen find it easy to hunt them using their nets, spears and dynamites. They are mainly caught for meat but other parts of the body are also used as aphrodisiacs.

The DENR through the Pawikan Conservation Project (PCP) of the Protected Areas and Wildlife Bureau (PAWB) is the lead agency in the management and conservation of "pawikans" and "dugongs".

Republic Act 9147 otherwise known as the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act penalizes the killing, hunting, selling of endangered species including the "dugongs" and "pawikans", their meat or any of their derivatives. Violators could be fined from P100,000 to P1,000,000 and/or imprisonment ranging from 6 to 12 years.