The environment department’s Biodiversity Management Bureau (BMB) will release to coastal communities and LGUs nationwide beginning this year its manual on handling sea cows (local name: dugong) stranded in the country’s coastal waters.
“That manual will help guide communities and LGUs concerned on what to do,” BMB director Theresa Mundita Lim said Thursday (Jan. 16) during a briefing on the baby dugong the agency’s personnel rescued in Infanta, Quezon early this month.
She noted sea cows must be handled properly to help increase the chance for survival of these aquatic mammals while in captivity so more of such animals can be eventually returned to the wild in due time.
Director Lim said care in handling is important as available data show low survival rate of sea cows in captivity.
BMB and its partners will continue caring for the baby dugong rescued in Infanta until it’s fit for releasing into the sea, she assured.
Marine consultant Romy Trono highlighted need for public-private sector partnership on conserving sea cows, noting these mammals’ sparse distribution in the country make it difficult to manage this specie.
A sea cow gives birth to one calf only in three to seven years, BMB also noted.
Trono cited lack of data on sea cows’ population but said efforts must be made to conserve these mammals.
“The aim is to stabilize sea cows’ population and one agency can’t do that alone,” he said at the briefing.
Lim said BMB will continue conducting its nationwide information campaign on conserving sea cows which play a vital role in preserving health and balance in the marine ecosystem.
Sea cows are the world’s remaining herbivorous aquatic mammals that solely eat sea grass, she noted.
By eating sea grass, she said, the dugong in effect clears the area where this plant grows.
Clearing the area enables new sea grass to sprout there and nutrients from the sea bed to be released so fish can feed on these, she added.
According to BMB, the dugong belongs to Class mammalia and is also locally known as ‘baboy dagat.’ .
BMB noted International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources in 1982 classified the dugong as vulnerable to extinction. [PNA]
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