Why Mozambique is tracking Dugong movements with satellite technology

Mozambique has launched an extensive survey using rare satellite tagging technology in Bazaruto Archipelago National Park in a bid to track dugong movements and safeguard their habitat.

This as the country looks to save the mammals’ last viable population in the western Indian Ocean.

The dugong is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees, and is the only living representative of a once-diverse family, the Dugongidae.

Its closest modern relative, Steller’s sea cow, which lived in the northern Pacific Ocean, was hunted to extinction in the 18th century

The Mozambican initiative, led by African Parks and Mozambique’s National Administration of Conservation Areas (ANAC) with technical support from James Cook University in Australia, highlights the growing trend of public-private collaborations in Africa’s conservation efforts to protect rare and vulnerable wildlife.

In May, the Seychelles Islands Foundation (SIF) conducted a lagoon-wide drone survey around its UNESCO World Heritage site, the Aldabra Atoll. The survey captured images of dugongs, including juveniles – the last known population of dugongs in the Seychelles.

A marine survey of its coastal region by Kenya last year uncovered only two dugongs in the initial findings.

According to the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW), large herds of over 100 dugongs were a common sight in Kenya’s waters as recently as the 1960s.

Similar surveys have been undertaken in Tanzania, Egypt and Madagascar, spearheaded mainly by international conservation organisations.

According to Armando Guenha, manager of Bazaruto Archipelago National Park and ANAC’s representative, the “collaboration between African Parks and ANAC has been instrumental in safeguarding Mozambique’s exceptional marine biodiversity within the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park.”

“We must continue working together with communities, conservation professionals, scientists and the private sector to ensure their continued existence for healthy marine ecosystems and for socio-economic benefits to local people,” he said in a recent media statement.

Dugongs, also known as sea cows, inhabit the tropical coastal waters of the Indian and western Pacific Oceans, where they graze on seagrass meadows. Their activities are vital to maintaining healthy marine ecosystems.

However, in 2022, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) listed dugongs as critically endangered in East Africa, with only around 250 individuals remaining in the region.

While annual surveys from Bazaruto National Park show a stable dugong population, including many cow-calf pairs, gill nets remain a critical threat, trapping and killing the mammals.

Additionally, according to IUCN, seagrass coverage, essential to dugong survival, has shrunk by 20% across the Indo-Pacific over the past century.

The tracking project saw seven male and five female dugongs fitted with specialised tracking tags. The technology will provide detailed information on their range, migration patterns, and crucial feeding grounds.

Interest in dugong conservation is surging beyond Mozambique, with regional initiatives launching to protect the animals.

According to Evan Trotzuk, African Parks’ Research and Monitoring Coordinator at Bazaruto, “This tagging project marks the next significant step forward in dugong conservation and in developing technical conservation skills of local researchers.”

“Understanding dugong movements and habitat use is vital for the long-term protection of the species and their marine environment, which is vital in sustaining the livelihoods of local communities through healthy fisheries and continued tourism.”

While most ongoing efforts geared towards conservation are limited to tracking and population assessment, experts believe it is a step in the right direction.

Writing for The Conversation, Stephanie Plön, an associate professor at the Department of Pathology in Stellenbosch University and Shane Lavery, of the University of Auckland, explained that “by tracking and understanding dugongs’ history, scientists can make good, informed decisions about marine conservation in the future”.

“Conservation of a species requires robust scientific data. There is a lot of information about some of the remaining dugong populations and their decline in certain parts of the species’ range,” the duo said, reporting about a study they conducted on how dugong populations are genetically different from each other.

— bird story agency