By Gabriela Baron
Dugongs are now functionally extinct in Chinese waters, researchers found.
According to scientists from the Zoological Society of London and the Chinese Academy of Sciences, no evidence of dugongs presence in China has been found since 2008.
Researchers also noted that this is “the first functional extinction of a large vertebrate in Chinese coastal waters.”
“Historical records of dugongs peak around 1960 and then decrease rapidly from 1975 onwards; no records are documented after 2008, with no verified field observations after 2000,” the report read.
“Based on these findings, we are forced to conclude that dugongs have experienced rapid population collapse during recent decades and are now functionally extinct in China,” it further read.
Dugongs are herbivorous animals and inhabit coastal waters of 37 tropical and subtropical countries including China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Brunei, and the Philippines.
They have been documented in Chinese waters for several hundred years, the researchers also noted.
The researchers, however, added that while some individual dugongs still remain in Chinese waters, the dramatic population decline experienced by the species in recent decades is “highly unlikely to be halted or reversed,” citing the continuing deterioration of coastal ecosystems.
“Current rapid economic growth in China and the countries around the [South China Sea], demonstrated through the recent increase in coastal economic activities (fishing, boat-based tourism, marine construction), is altering the structure and function of critical marine habitats and impacting marine mammals and wider biodiversity across the region,” the report also read.
The study also highlighted that “immediate and extreme measures are necessary to prevent further extinctions of other keystone species” as well as “improved monitoring” to identify species at high risk of extinction and guide regional conservation actions.
“The extinction of an emblematic species such as the dugong in China raises further concerns for other threatened marine mammals within a system where human activities now dominate the seascape.”
–ag
