Four dugongs tagged to chart migration

The Environment Agency-Abu Dhabi (EAD) has tagged four dugongs with satellite transmitters that will enable scientists to chart their migration and better protect the species, announced the EAD. The trackings devices were fitted to the subjects in collaboration with Australia’s Charles Darwin University, a leading institution in the field of dugong research. Transmission of data on the sea mammals’ movement in Abu Dhabi waters has already begun. “The results from this study will help us better understand their migration patterns across borders with neighbouring countries and will further facilitate and enhance existing regional cooperation in the conservation,” said Thabit Al Abdessalaam, executive director of EAD’s Terrestrial and Marine Biodiversity Sector. Dugongs were selected from the UAE’s marine protected areas of Al Yasat Island and Marawah Marine Biosphere Reserve because of their proximity to Qatar, allowing scientists to study the animals’ movement across the Arabian Gulf. The initiative, which took place under the guidance of the EAD Chairman, Shaikh Hamdan bin Zayed Al Nahyan, forms the latest step in the EAD’s Dugong Conservation Programme founded in 1999. Data collected from the tagged dugongs will influence the EAD’s recommendations to the Abu Dhabi government on how best to regulate the surrounding marine ecosystems and to protect the local dugong population. The slow-moving, herbivorous sea mammal has been deemed ‘vulnerable to extinction’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature due to human activities that harm both the animal and the coastal habitats it depends on. “Our efforts are centered on ensuring that Abu Dhabi’s waters are managed in a manner which helps this globally endangered species, as well as ensures the integrity of our other marine biodiversity and ecosystems,” said EAD Secretary General Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak. The UAE is a signatory to the Convention on Migratory Species and legally prohibits the exploitation of dugongs. The nation’s conservation efforts have contributed to the protection of the world’s densest population of dugongs, which lives off the coast of Abu Dhabi’s Bu Tinah Island.