The ‘mermaid' gets a lifeline

KOLLAM: Himansu S. Das, dugong expert, has said that India has made the right move at the right time by constituting a task force for the conservation of the marine mammal.

The graceful dugong's (or sea cow) claim to fame is that it was once mistaken for the mythical mermaid in mariners' tales. But in the past century, this placid animal was slaughtered for meat and brought to the brink of extinction. It is the sole remaining species of the family called Sirenia and is now found only in a few pockets of the Pacific and Indian oceans.

India has three dugong habitats, in the Gulf of Mannar, the Andaman and Nicobar Islands and the Gujarat coast. But sightings are rare.

Mr. Das, who is a scientist with Environment Agency, an Abu Dhabi-based organisation, told The Hindu that India was a signatory to an MoU on dugong conservation of the United Nations Environment Programme (Conservation of Migratory Species) held at Abu Dhabi from October 4 to 6. Following this, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forest constituted the 11-member task force on October 15.

He said that the dugong was the only known herbivorous marine mammal and had significant biodiversity value. The animal was both a flagship species as well as an umbrella species. It conservation would protect hundreds of other species that live in the dugong habitats.

“They are long living and slow growing animals with low reproductive rates and are totally dependent on seagrass for food,” he said. The International Union for Conservation of Nature had globally listed dugongs as vulnerable to extinction.

The female dugong nurses its calf for over three years. Trapping a dugong is easy. A poacher can swim alongside it and loop its neck. It can then be pulled to the shore. If a calf is looped in this manner the mother will swim along with it and the calf will do the same if its mother is looped. Given this behaviour, it is easy for poachers to kill two at a time.

The scientist said that the constitution of the task force showed India's commitment towards conservation of the dugong and its habitat. “The move will pave way for the return of the ‘mermaid,'” Mr. Das said.

Source: The Hindu, 26-10-2010