Small-scale mariculture: A potentially significant threat to dugongs (Dugong dugon) through incidental entanglement

Supplementary video Poonian Lopez from Aquatic Mammals on Vimeo.

Poonian, C. N. S., & Lopez, D. D. (2016). Small-scale mariculture: A potentially significant threat to dugongs (Dugong dugon) through incidental entanglement. Aquatic Mammals, 42(1), 56-59.

Abstract: Dugongs (Dugong dugon) are threatened by incidental capture in small-scale fisheries, but other static underwater structures could present a similar entanglement risk. In December 2013, an adult male dugong was entangled in the ropes of a seaweed farm in Busuanga, Palawan, Philippines, and drowned. Anecdotal reports of similar incidents suggest that this was not an isolated occurrence. Given that dugong populations are slow to reproduce and cannot sustain even low levels of mortality, effective marine spatial planning is essential to minimize overlap between dugong habitat and mariculture operations.