Sirenews (ISSN 1017-3439) appears twice a year

in April and October and is edited by Daryl P. Domning,

Department of Anatomy, Howard University, Washington, D.C. 20059 USA

(fax: 1-202-265-7055). It is supported by the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission

and Sea World, Inc.

NUMBER 26 OCTOBER 1996

IN THIS ISSUE: - AFRICAN MANATEES CAPTURED FOR DISPLAY BY

JAPANESE AQUARIUM (p. 4)

- DUGONG BITES MAN (p. 7)

- SIRENIAN BIBLIOGRAPHY APPEARS AT LAST (p. 8)

GOING ... GOING ... DUGONG:

CAN AUSTRALIA MEET ITS INTERNATIONAL OBLIGATIONS

FOR CONSERVING DUGONGS IN THE GREAT BARRIER REEF REGION?

Since the first international dugong workshop held in Townsville in 1979, it has been recognized that Australian initiatives are vital if dugongs are to be conserved. Australia has a special responsibility for dugong conservation as it provides one of the last strongholds for dugong populations. Elsewhere in the dugong's range, some local populations have been extirpated, and where it still occurs in developing countries, remnant populations are under increasing pressure. Australia is a developed country with a relatively small human population, particularly in the north where dugongs occur. Our capacity to conserve dugongs should be good in the Great Barrier Reef region. The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park is the largest multiple-use marine protected area in the world and a World Heritage Site. The importance of this region as a dugong habitat was one of the reasons it was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1981. If we cannot manage to conserve dugongs in the Great Barrier Reef region, then it is unlikely that they will survive anywhere else.

In the October 1995 issue of Sirenews, I reported that, although dugong numbers appear to have been stable over the last decade in the remote parts of the Great Barrier Reef region, they have declined over much of the urban coast by approximately 50% over the past eight years. Over a large section of the region, this decline is over 80%.

This massive decline in dugong numbers means that the dugong qualifies for classification as "critically endangered" over much of the urban east coast of Queensland. Anecdotal evidence from scientists and traditional hunters suggests that this decline has been occurring since the 1960s or even earlier.

Statistics collected by the Queensland Shark Protection Program reinforce this conclusion. Since shark nets were introduced for bather protection in the 1960s, 541 dugongs have been caught in the Great Barrier Reef region, most in the early years of the program. A total of 241 dugongs were caught near Townsville and 161 off Cairns, the area where there are now so few dugongs that the population cannot be estimated.

The decline in dugong numbers along the east coast of Queensland is embarrassing for Australia, which has responsibility for conserving dugongs under several international conventions. Australia also has a national responsibility to conserve dugongs for future generations of Australians, especially Indigenous Australians, for whom the dugong has special cultural significance.

It is widely recognized that dugong meat and oil are among the most valuable traditional foods of coastal Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders in northern Australia. Most people assume that traditional hunting is the most serious human impact on dugongs in Australia. But the situation is clearly much more complicated than this in the Great Barrier Reef region. Dugongs are vulnerable to two broad classes of impacts:

_ those that kill animals directly, for example netting, traditional hunting, or large-scale losses of seagrass; and

_ those that decrease the calving rate by reducing feeding opportunities, for example smaller-scale habitat loss or boat traffic.

Even though Tony Preen and Paul Anderson have discovered that dugongs supplement their seagrass diet with invertebrate animals at the subtropical limits of their range, they are essentially seagrass specialists. This dependence on seagrass means that dugongs have an obligatory association with coastal habitats, which are vulnerable to the impacts of extreme weather events and to human activities such as hunting, fishing, coastal development, and unsustainable agricultural practices.

Since they became aware of the decline of the dugong in the southern Great Barrier Reef region, most of the Indigenous Councils of Elders that control traditional hunting in this region have voluntarily agreed not to harvest dugongs, and there is currently no permitted hunting on the urban coast. One Aboriginal Corporation recently signed an historic agreement with the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority stating that it would be inappropriate for Indigenous hunting to occur within their local area.

It is now up to other stakeholder groups to respond to the challenge of reducing their impacts on dugongs, and there has been major media pressure on the commercial fishing industry to reduce their dugong bycatch. So far this year, Janet Slater of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority has collated reports of 23 dugong carcasses, at least 10 and possibly 14 of which were suspected net kills. As a result, dugongs have been front-page news in many regional newspapers in Queensland for several weeks, and serious concern is at last being expressed about the problem. I was even flown to Sydney to brief the Australian Minister for the Environment in person.

The Queensland Commercial Fishermen's Organisation has publicly acknowledged that the incidental capture and drowning of dugongs in mesh nets is a problem. This organization has supported the development of an education program to inform commercial fishers on aspects of dugong conservation biology and management and on methods to minimize dugong take. It is hoped that attendance at this program will become part of the Trainee Master Fisherman's course and compulsory for Master Fishermen who wish to fish using mesh nets. This initiative is important as many fishers do not appreciate the seriousness of the "Dugong Problem" or the way it threatens the future of mesh netting as a commercial fishing method in the Great Barrier Reef region. However, I consider that education alone will not be enough.

Given the large number of net fishers and vessels involved in the industry on a part-time basis, an observer program to obtain statistics on the numbers of dugongs drowned in mesh nets on the east coast of Queensland would be expensive and logistically difficult. Solution of this problem requires a multifaceted joint approach by the relevant Queensland and national agencies and the commercial fishing industry. I have assessed the comparative risk of dugongs drowning in mesh nets in various sectors of the Queensland coast on the basis of dugong density, mesh net density, and enforcement capability as a first stage in developing a strategy for reducing the bycatch of dugongs. An urgent solution is required to avoid further polarization of the stakeholders involved in the problem and to minimize the further impacts of mesh netting on dugongs on the east coast of Queensland.

The Queensland Shark Protection Program is also being reviewed to address bycatch issues. Baited lines, which do not catch marine mammals, have replaced nets at many beaches in the Great Barrier Reef region in recent years, but nets remain at several locations. A decision to replace all nets with baited lines would be controversial, as some scientists believe that nets as well as lines are needed if inshore shark numbers are to be maintained at a level where the risk of their attacking people is acceptably low. Other scientists consider that any bycatch of marine mammals in shark nets is unacceptable in a World Heritage Area, given the extremely low risk of a bather being attacked by a shark.

The greatest challenge will be the conservation of inshore seagrass beds in the region. Experience has shown that it is hard to convince a prospective developer that a resort may have adverse impacts on dugongs and their habitats. It will be even harder to convince a farmer that erosion from his property may threaten the survival of sea cows grazing on submarine pastures many kilometers downstream! - Helene Marsh

(cartoons reprinted from The Daily Mercury, Sept. 1996)

NEW JOURNAL

A new periodical which can be expected to include sirenian items on a regular basis began publication in June 1996. Entitled Manati: Zeitschrift des Vereins der Tiergartenfreunde Nürnberg e. V. und des Tiergartens der Stadt Nürnberg, it is the official publication of the Nuremberg Zoological Garden, which has been so successful in breeding West Indian manatees. According to a notice in Säugetierkundliche Mitteilungen 38(1), the new journal's first issue begins with a general account of the animal by Prof. Dr. H. F. Moeller (Heidelberg), and also includes a report on seacows by Dr. B. Blaszkiewitz (Berlin-Friedrichsfelde) (see Recent Literature, below). Other articles cover a variety of other animal species. Manati supersedes the earlier series entitled Tiergarten Aktuell (1985-1995), and its first volume accordingly receives the number 11.

THANKS AGAIN, SEA WORLD!

Sea World, Inc. has once more assisted the publication of Sirenews with a contribution of $1000. On behalf of the Sirenia Specialist Group and IUCN, we thank Sea World and Dan Odell for their generous support.

LOCAL NEWS

FLORIDA

Manatee Die-off Attributed to Red Tide. - The disastrous mass mortality of manatees that occurred in southwest Florida between 5 March and 27 April 1996 has been officially diagnosed as the result of a red tide, according to a 2 July press release by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP).

The die-off involved the deaths of some 158 Florida manatees whose carcasses were recovered between Englewood in the north and Marco Island in the south.

The announcement came as the conclusion to four months of intensive research by state, federal, and international agencies, which ruled out other possible causes such as infectious diseases, parasites, and man-made toxins. The dead manatees' nutritional condition was good and there was no visible trauma, meaning that cold stress and boat strikes were not to blame.

Evidently the animals died as a result of inhaling and/or ingesting high levels of red tide toxin (brevetoxin) while feeding on seagrasses and associated organisms which may have concentrated the poison. FDEP red tide specialist Dr. Karen Steidinger, writing in the Save the Manatee Club Newsletter (Sept. 1996), suggested that four unusual circumstances coincided to precipitate the unusual mortality. First, early 1996 brought some of the coldest temperatures in recent history to the area, causing large numbers of manatees to congregate in warm-water refugia up the Caloosahatchee River. Second, there was a warming period when the manatees dispersed into Pine Island Sound and Matlacha Pass. Third, there were high salinities at the mouth of the Caloosahatchee and throughout Pine Island Sound, which favored the survival of the dinoflagellates that cause red tide. Fourth, from the beginning of March to the end of April, the red tide concentrations in the area were high enough to kill fish and the highest they had been in the area at that time of year since 1982, when the other circumstances also co-occurred and a similar manatee die-off took place. Steidinger speculates that when the manatees dispersed down the Caloosahatchee, they encountered the hot zone of red tide, triggering the mass mortality.

Prior to this die-off, the most recent population estimates indicated a Florida manatee population of over 2600. As of 16 October, 369 manatees have died in the state this year, including the 158 attributed to this event. This far exceeds the previous record set in 1990, when a total of 206 Florida manatees died in the entire year.

GUINEA BISSAU

African Manatees Captured for Display. - Reports have reached us that two West African manatees were captured in Guinea Bissau this past summer by a team from the Toba Aquarium in Japan, where the animals are destined for public display. These would be the first specimens of Trichechus senegalensis displayed in a public aquarium in many years, and they would join the pair of dugongs already in captivity at Toba. However, no further details were obtainable from the Toba Aquarium or other sources as of press time. We hope to provide a full report in our next issue.

INDIA

The Vanishing Mermaids of Andaman and Nicobar Islands. - In the recent past, the urgent need to study the seagrass habitat and its associated animal life in Andaman and Nicobar was felt by several workers. Thus, a study was initiated by Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History with financial support from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, Government of India, in order to evaluate the habitat status, resource potential, and conservation value of this unique ecosystem.

Seagrasses being its staple food, the dugong is intimately associated with the seagrass habitat. Once widely distributed, the dugong has disappeared from many parts of its realm and is under serious threat in most of the remaining area. In India, the dugong occurs in the Gulf of Kutch, Gulf of Mannar, Palk Bay, and Andaman and Nicobar Islands. The latter islands have large areas of seagrass, rich in diversity, flourishing in clear, relatively low-nutrient coastal waters.

The primary objective of the study was to identify the potential seagrass habitats for conservation, but information regarding dugongs was also collected. Surveys by motor boat and rowboat in Ritchies Archipelago, North Reef, Marine National Park - Wandoor, and off Diglipur during 1994, and Little Andaman, Camorta, Pilomilow, Little Nicobar and Great Nicobar islands during January and March 1995 failed to locate dugongs. These surveys were undertaken without any particular pattern and with the help of the local hunters and fishermen from morning to evening. The main source of information was interviews with the local tribes and settlers. As dugong poaching is illegal, the local fishermen were reluctant to share information. Therefore the interviews were done informally. On two occasions, bones could be examined.

Dugongs were common in the 1950s, but the population has dropped drastically in the recent past, as evidenced by sporadic sightings and rare records of poaching. Most of the tribes, namely Andamanese, Onges and Nicobares, traditionally hunt dugongs with iron harpoons tied to the boat (dunghi). Shompens have no knowledge about dugong hunting, and hostile tribes (Sentinalese and Jarawas) were not interviewed. Settlers, although they have no knowledge about hunting, at times get the animals in fishing nets close to seagrass beds. None of the tribes, except Andamanese of Strait Island, go on regular hunts because of the time and effort it takes to catch a dugong. The settlers from mainland India are mostly Hindus (Bengali- and Hindi-speaking) and do not like dugong meat as it looks and tastes like beef; so the killing is always unintentional. To avoid legal problems they hand over the animals to the tribes who are exempted from the Wildlife (Protection) Act of 1972.

The fishermen had sighted five dugongs on separate occasions between 1990 and 1994 along the northwestern side of Camorta Island, five near Dugong Creek and Hutby, and four each in Little Nicobar and Great Nicobar islands. Besides those in the southern Andaman Islands, dugongs were seen by fishermen and local residents around Ritchies Archipelago on at least five separate occasions during 1990-1994. Most sightings took place in seagrass beds during high tides in the early evening.

The primary reason for the decrease in the dugong population in this island group is habitat loss, which has resulted from increasingly heavy boat traffic and faulty land use practices such as conversion of forests to banana, areca nut and coconut plantations. Natural calamities like cyclones and high-energy tidal storms may also be partly responsible. In fact, a wounded and dead dugong was noticed by Andaman Public Works Department workers near Pilo Kunji on Great Nicobar Island after a cyclone in July 1989.

The study concludes that dugongs are less abundant than in the recent past. Although dugong numbers are greatly reduced and large populations are no longer seen, dugongs still exist at least around Ritchies Archipelago, North Reef, Little Andamans, Camorta (Allimpong and Pilpilow), Little Nicobar and parts of Great Nicobar islands. The best way to protect dugongs in these island groups is by: (1) initiating education programs, (2) identification and conservation of potential habitats, (3) enforcing strict legislation to protect dugongs, and (4) regular monitoring by government and non-government agencies. The study also advocates an aerial survey of dugong populations to determine their exact status and long-term monitoring thereafter. - H. S. Das (Scientist, Wetland Ecology Division, Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, Kalampalayam, Coimbatore 641 010, India)

KENYA

Dugong Festival Week Raises Awareness. - The Sea Turtle/Dugong Conservation Committee, comprising representatives from the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS), Fisheries Department, Coast Development Authority (CDA), National Museums of Kenya (NMK), Wildlife Clubs of Kenya (WCK), hoteliers and individual conservationists, in collaboration with the Dugong Inter-Agency Advisory Committee comprising KWS, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), WCK, East Africa Wildlife Society (EAWS), Fisheries Department, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Conservation Union (IUCN), Africa Wildlife Foundation (AWF), Eden Wildlife Trust (EWT), and CDA, organized a Dugong Awareness Festival Week, 22-27 April 1996.

The aims of the festival were to:

(1) raise public awareness concerning the plight of dugongs among fishermen and local communities;

(2) obtain information from the fishermen and local people on the occurrence of dugongs;

(3) involve the coastal people in dugong conservation by introducing them to measures they can implement to curb dugong mortality; and

(4) seek the views of fishermen on appropriate ways to enhance dugong conservation.

During the festival week, a series of meetings was held in the key fishing villages along the Kenya coast. Seminars and workshops, together with audio-visual presentations, were the main modes of communication during the one-week awareness program, which saw the conservationists move from Vanga Ngomeni, Kipini, Lamu, Takwa, Pate, Kizingitini, Kinyaole (Robinson Island), and other fishing villages. The coordination team was led by the chairman of the Kenya Sea Turtle/Dugong Conservation Project, Mr. George Wamukoya, with Eden Wildlife Trust (EWT) supporting the ground logistics by providing transport. The awareness team comprised Kakuko Nagatani (WCK), George Wamukoya (KWS), Jane Mbendo (Fisheries Dept.), Said Mwaguni (CDA), Hassan Mohammed (Fort Jesus Museum), Fakih Mbwana (KWS), Sirya Karisa (KWS), and Joseph Eriya (volunteer). Dugong posters created a lot of enthusiasm among the local people, as many of them had not seen a dugong before.

In most of the fishing villages, the local communities pledged to form conservation subcommittees, which will serve to monitor dugong movements and their conservation needs and those of other endangered species such as sea turtles. This will make it easier to control poaching of these animals. Model subcommittees are operating in Kipini and Lamu, whereas in Ngomeni and Kizingitini, the conservation subcommittee modalities are being worked out. The interaction between the awareness team and the fishermen yielded useful information on dugong sightings in areas such as Vanga, Watamu, and Ngomeni, which had been presumed to have depleted their local stocks. Appropriate surveillance mechanisms have been put in place in these areas for monitoring of dugong movements by the local people.

The climax of the festival week was held in Lamu town on 27 April 1996. Before the public rally, a series of entertainment activities was organized by the Lamu organizing committee. First, a peaceful demonstration was organized along Lamu streets, with participants carrying posters of "Save the Dugong" and singing in praise of dugongs and the need to conserve them. Other events which marked the highly successful day included a swimming competition, dhow race, donkey race, and poetry recitals. The latter was directly relevant to the plight of the "mermaids", whose numbers have dropped drastically from about five hundred in the last decade to only six at last count in February 1996. The most characteristic event, and a crowd puller, was the donkey race, which was won by a standard six pupil from Manda Primary School, "Jockey" Kassim Athman, who shrugged off stiff competition and marshaled the donkey to a first finish after being flagged off by Dr. Monica Borobia (UNEP OCA/PAC). Cash prizes were given as rewards for the winners, and this served as a great incentive to the participants.

The guest of honor was the KWS Deputy Director, Biodiversity, Mr. Wilbur Ottichilo, together with a high-powered delegation from KWS headquarters including the Assistant Director in charge of Community Programmes Mrs. Agnes Masika. In attendance also were the DC, Lamu and representatives of UNEP, WCK, JICA, NMK, CDA, Fisheries Department, WWF, and the local community leaders. Mr. Ottichilo underscored the need to integrate the local communities in conservation activities and applauded the coastal people for their support and the pivotal role they continue to play in dugong and sea turtle conservation. He pledged the continued support of KWS in community-based projects which will enhance the sustainable use of the marine resources, with a view to raising the living standards of the coastal communities.

From the festival week, it is crystal clear that the English/Swahili dugong posters and audio-visual presentations and the mammoth crowd that attended the Lamu function created significant awareness about dugongs and their conservation obligations among the coastal communities. The community suggested that the Dugong Festival be held annually as a way of sensitizing the local people, particularly fishermen, on their roles and support in dugong conservation. This will enhance exchange of information on the few remaining "mermaids" and their movements. They also suggested that participants be invited from Somalia and Tanzania in order to strengthen regional efforts to conserve dugongs and turtles. The Dugong Festival will now become an annual event, with the hope of becoming a regional and international event. - George M. Wamukoya (Kenya Wildlife Service, P.O. Box 82144, Mombasa, Kenya)

VANUATU

Dugong Loses Patience with Divers. - The July 1996 issue of Backbone (Newsletter of the Department of Vertebrate Zoology, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, vol. 9, no. 4, pp. 8-9) carried a report by ichthyologist Jeff Williams of an unusual encounter with a dugong that he and other members of a Smithsonian collecting expedition had in May-June 1996. It is reprinted here with permission.

"A village at the southeast end of Tanna advertises a dugong as a tourist attraction. We anchored in the harbor, just off the village, to seek shelter from the constant ocean swells and were told by Captain Hendry [Taiford] that a male dugong comes up to the beach in front of our anchorage. While swimming out from the boat to find a good place to collect fish, Mark [Westneat] met the dugong and Jeff [Williams] joined them near the front of the boat. The dugong was very calm and gentle, probably curious to see people staying underwater and blowing air bubbles out of funny looking mouthpieces. He soon left us and we continued on to collect some fish. But that was not the last time Jeff would see this dugong. That afternoon at a collecting station near the mouth of the harbor, Jeff was attacked by the dugong. He was evidently not pleased that divers were swimming around in his territory! At first Jeff thought the dugong was gently hitting him on the back with his flipper, but it was soon clear after a couple of full body slams that Jeff was not welcome! After taking cover in coral crevices a couple of times, Jeff finally managed to slip away from the big guy. Although we could hear the dugong[']s high pitched call (warning?), he left us alone for a while, but Jeff was constantly looking over his shoulder to see if he was going to be attacked again. Sure enough, just before dark, the dugong swooped in and gave Jeff another slap on the back.

"Jeff hid in a coral cave and when the dugong crossed over the reef, Jeff decided to call it quits and headed up to the boat. During that dive, the dugong attacked Jeff, Mark and Di [Bray], but Dave [Smith] never even saw it."

In a conversation, Williams added that the dugong had put Mark Westneat's shoulder in his mouth and jerked him backward, leaving the shoulder sore for a couple of days.

As more and more people start diving in waters inhabited by dugongs, more such incidents can be anticipated. So far no one is known to have been seriously injured by a dugong, but divers should be aware that (to quote Paul Anderson) the dugong is not a manatee, and the placid, gentle image associated with the Florida manatee may not apply to a territorial male dugong armed with sharp tusks. Though not replicated by recent scientific observations, accounts do exist of bull dugongs disembowelling a shark with the tusks (J. Promus, 1937, Walkabout 3(5): 40-41) and nearly killing a crocodile by repeatedly jumping out of the water and landing on top of it (G. H. Sunter, 1937, Adventures of a Trepang Fisher, London, Hurst & Blackett, p. 60). Believe these stories or not, but treat dugongs (and all large marine animals) with respect!

Williams' testimony that the same animal on the same day behaved differently in different locations certainly suggests some form of territoriality. What resource might it have been defending? Is it possible that dugongs in Vanuatu, as at Shark Bay, form leks? - DPD

WASHINGTON, D.C.

Sirenian Bibliography Published. - Domning's Bibliography and Index of the Sirenia and Desmostylia has finally (!) been published as Number 80 in the series Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology. It is an exhaustive, annotated and indexed compilation of 500 years of scientific and popular literature on the biology, paleobiology, and ethnobiology of sirenians and desmostylians. It also includes appendices on serial publications devoted to Sirenia, additional sources on the history of sirenian studies and conservation, coins and postage stamps depicting sirenians, and the classification, complete synonymy, and scientific nomenclature of sirenians and desmostylians.

Since the Smithsonian does not retail its series publications to the general public, the Save the Manatee Club (SMC) has obtained a limited supply of copies for sale to individuals. The retail price is only US$25.00 per copy for this 611-page volume. To order, please contact the Save the Manatee Club, 500 N. Maitland Ave., Maitland, Florida 32751, USA (phone: 1-800-432-5646).

Some of you placed your orders long ago and have experienced a long delay in having them filled. Please don't blame SMC: it was the Smithsonian that fumbled the ball and delayed filling SMC's order for two and a half months after publication! However, the books have now been shipped to Florida, and orders should be filled promptly from here on out.

Since many active workers on sirenians are located in countries whence purchases in U.S. dollars are difficult or impossible, I have also made alternative arrangements so that this important research tool can be available to those who may have the greatest need for it. If you are unable to remit in U.S. dollars, please write to the Remington Kellogg Library of Marine Mammalogy, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, DC 20560, USA, and request a copy of the bibliography. If you can pay in U.S. dollars, please order from SMC and help support manatee research! - DPD

Manatee Postage Stamp. - The first U.S. postage stamp depicting a sirenian is now available. The 32-cent blue and green stamp, part of a sheet of 15 designs portraying 15 different