Dugongs, knows as sea cows, threatened with extinction
2 Min Read
Sea cows are now included as "endangered" and "critically endangered" in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List.
-
Despite their name, the sea cows are more closely related to elephants than to cows.
Dugongs, commonly known as "sea cows", which are considered as an important source of ecotourism in their tropical habitats, are now threatened with extinction, according to an official list updated Friday.
Despite their name, they are more closely related to elephants than to cows.
Dugong populations in New Caledonia and East Africa are now included in the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List and considered as "endangered" and "critically endangered," respectively. The species remains globally classified as "vulnerable."
Their main threats come from poaching in New Caledonia and unintentional capture in fishing gear in East Africa, as well as boat injuries in both places.
Fossil fuel exploration and production, pollution, and unauthorized development in East Africa are also degrading their seagrass food source.
In New Caledonia, seagrass is being lost by agricultural run-off and pollution from nickel mining, among other sources.
Climate change is compounding habitat degradation throughout the dugongs' range in the Indian and western Pacific Oceans
The updated list comes as international delegates meet in Montreal for a UN biodiversity conference to finalize a new framework for "a peace pact with nature," with main goals to preserve Earth's forests, oceans and species.
"The ability to slow and limit extinction rate, to buy us more time has been focused very much on a large terrestrial species," IUCN deputy director Stewart Maginnis told AFP.
"But the fact is that we are 30 years behind on effective marine conservation -- now hopefully we can catch that up," he added.
Climate change is driving ocean acidification and deoxygenation, while flows of agricultural and industrial pollution from the land are leading to detrimental impacts on ocean species.
The Red List is not a hopeless catalog of doom, Maginnis stressed, adding that it serves as a scientifically rigorous tool that helps focus conservation action, and it includes more than 150,000 species, with more than 42,000 at risk of extinction.
Over 1,550 marine animals and plants are threatened with extinction, as climate change impacts at least 41% of those threatened.
