Deaths of dugongs spur action
Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Natural Resources and Environment (MNRE) Pol Gen Patcharawat Wongsuwan has ordered national parks officials and other marine wildlife officers to ramp up measures to protect dugongs, including in Phuket, after two dugongs, believed to be mother and child, were found dead washed ashore at Koh Mak Noi, near famed Koh Panyee, in Phang Nga Bay.
The order from Deputy PM Pol Gen Patcharawat was posted online by the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources (DMCR) last Saturday (May 11), but the date of when the two dugongs were found dead was not reported.
DMCR officers arrived at the beach near Laem Pratok on Koh Mak Noi with Ao Phang Nga National Park officers to find that both dugongs were female. The larger adult female was 3.3 metres long, while the young female calf was 2.2m long.
Despite initial reports that the dugongs had been killed by an “accident”, namely by a boat propeller, were unconfirmed, DMCR officers reported.
The officers found no wounds on the bodies, which were brought back to the Sireetarn Marine Endangered Animals Rescue Centre in Phuket for further examination in the hope of confirming the cause of death.
However, both dugongs had died very recently, officers confirmed.
The officers spoke with local villagers in the are to educate them about dugongs, which are understood to migrate from the waters off Trang province to feed on seagrass in Phang Nga Bay.
Pol Gen Patcharawat called a meeting to order more to be done to protect dugongs, as he said at least 20 had been found dead in local waters since the beginning of the year.
Present in person to receive the order was former DMCR Director Atthaphon Charoenchansa, who now serves as Acting DirectorGeneral of the Department National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation (DNP), and current DMCR DirectorGeneral Pinsak Suraswadi.
Also present was Chaiwat Limlikit-aksorn, Director of the Office of National Parks along with Permsak Kongkaew, who as the Director of the Conservation Area Management Office No. 5 (Nakhon Sri Thammarat) is also the chief of the Andaman Sea National Park.
Fishing in sea grass areas was strictly prohibited, Pol Gen Patcharawat said.
Also, boats are not to exceed speeds of 3 knots in known seagrass areas, and not to exceed speeds over 20 knots in any areas where dugongs are known to inhabit, he added.
“We need to jointly analyse and find ways to determine measures to care for, protect and prevent injury and death of rare marine animals, especially dugongs,” Pol Gen Patcharawat said.
“Currently, dugongs are being stranded or dying. Due to global warming, seagrass resources, which are the source of food for dugongs, are deteriorating, resulting in the movement of dugong populations.
“They are moving to other seagrass areas where they may be a lot of water transport and fishing activities, which affects the livelihood and habitats of dugongs and death from water accidents can occur,” he added.
“At Hat Nappharat TharaMu Ko Phi Phi National Park, measures have been presented to preserve dugongs and seagrass beds in order to mark seagrass zones and risk areas that dugongs use on their migratory journeys to find food,” Pol Gen Patcharawat confirmed.
“As such, we need to create measures and guidelines for protecting dugongs and seagrass areas in the area and have national parks make announcements to serve as an example of practice in the area and to expand the results to marine protected areas in the area in the future,” he said.
Marine officials were specifically ordered to ramp up patrols at protected seagrass areas to counter illegal fishing.
Pol Gen Patcharawat noted that the DMCR had identified 11 protected seagrass areas in Phang Nga Bay where such measures are to be carried out.
The two known protected seagrass areas in Phuket are at Ao Tang Khen off Cape Panwa and at Ao Pa Khlok, both off Phuket’s east coast.
The remaining nine known protected seagrass areas were given as: Ao Ban Khlong Khian, Phang Nga; Koh Mak, Phang Nga; Chong Lard, Koh Yao, Phang Nga; Ao Tha Pom, Krabi; Ao Nang, Krabi; Ao Nam Mao, Krabi; Koh Sriboya, Koh Pu, Krabi; Koh Lanta, Krabi; and Laem Sai, Krabi.
Any persons seeing illegal fishing in protected areas or any other activities that endanger dugongs, or see a dugong in distress, were urged to the DMCR Volunteer project on the hotline 1362.