India’s first Dugong Conservation Reserve

Syllabus: General Studies Paper 3

The country’s first ‘Dugong Conservation Reserve’ has been notified in Tamil Nadu. The move was aimed at conserving the endangered species as it would help protect and improve marine fauna.

• In order to protect the Dugong species and its marine habitats, a conservation reserve would be established in the Palk Bay region off the coast of Tamil Nadu.
• It facilitates India to act as the leading nation in the South Asia Sub-region with respect to dugong conservation.

Dugongs

• Also called the sea cow, they are herbivorous mammal. This is the only herbivorous marine mammals and the only member of the family Dugongidae.
• It is one of four living species of the order Sirenia, which also includes three species of manatees.
• They can grow up to three meters long, weigh about 300 kilograms and live for about 65 to 70 years grazing on seagrass and coming to the surface to breathe.

Conservation Status

• IUCN Status: Vulnerable
• Wild (Life) Protection Act, 1972: Schedule I
• CITES: Appendix I
• They are found in over 30 countries and in India are seen in the Gulf of Mannar, Gulf of Kutch, Palk Bay, and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
• They are mainly found in shallow areas since they survive mainly on seagrass.

Steps Taken for Conservation:

• In February 2020, India hosted the 13th Conference of Parties (CoP) of the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), an environmental treaty under the aegis of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
• The Government of India has been a signatory to the CMS since 1983.
• India has signed non-legally binding Memorandums of Understanding (MoU) with CMS on the conservation and management of Siberian Cranes (1998), Marine Turtles (2007), Dugongs (2008) and Raptors (2016).
• The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change constituted a ‘Task Force for Conservation of Dugongs’ to look into issues related to conservation of dugongs and implementation of the ‘UNEP/CMS Dugong MoU’ in India.