‘Climate K.O.’: Thailand’s gentle dugongs die in Andaman Sea as global warming takes toll

According to island lore, when the dugong thrives, so do the people of Koh Libong.

But this year, for the first time ever, the dugong – a shy, benign snub-nosed marine mammal and cousin of the manatee – has vanished from the waters around the Andaman Sea island.

“We believe that the dugongs represent abundance,” Ismaann, also the president of the Koh Libong tourism cooperative, told This Week in Asia.

“But we also believe that the day they disappear, so will the way of life of the Libong islanders. Then, our legends are all we will have left.”

With acres of once submerged grasses now dried up, Thailand’s herd of 200 or so dugongs have been forced to swim north from their home in Koh Libong. Starving, some have foraged northwards to the provinces of Phang Nga and Krabi. But it is proving to be an ill-starred journey.

The carcasses of four dugongs have washed up on beaches there in the last week, three with deep slashes seemingly from propeller blades from boat engines around Krabi.

In the waters around Koh Libong, fishermen and long-tail boat drivers know how to skirt the shallows in which the dugongs feed. But in the seas of Krabi, which pulse with tourist boats, locals have little experience of the endangered creature.

“Dugongs have to migrate to find seagrass elsewhere [and] Phang Nga Bay is a major target,” Kongkiat Kittiwatanawong, Marine Resources and Environment Specialist at the Department of Marine and Coastal Resources, posted on his Facebook Page on May 13.

“But they must adapt to new threats from both fishing gear and propellers. During these times of vulnerability, humans should ‘share the space and help’ so that they can survive.”

A map of the feeding channels used by dugongs has been hastily shared by the marine