A gentle grazer in trouble
The dugong (Dugong dugon) is rated Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List, with a population that is decreasing. But that single global label hides a far harsher picture. In 2022 researchers concluded the dugong is functionally extinct in the waters of China, with no confirmed sightings there since 2008 — the first functional extinction of a large mammal in China's coastal seas. Regional assessments rate the species Critically Endangered in East Africa and around Japan's Nansei Islands, and Endangered in New Caledonia. Only a few strongholds, notably northern Australia and the Persian Gulf, remain relatively secure.
Why are dugongs endangered?
Two pressures matter most across the dugong's range, and they often strike together:
- Fishing bycatch. Gillnets set in shallow coastal waters drown dugongs that surface to breathe. Because the animals are air-breathing mammals, even a short entanglement can be fatal, and calves and juveniles are frequently among the dead.
- Seagrass loss. Dugongs cannot survive without the underwater meadows they graze, and those meadows are being degraded by destructive fishing, coastal development, sediment from land clearing, and pollution. Lose the seagrass, and you lose the dugong.
Boat strikes, hunting and pollution add further pressure. And because dugongs are long-lived and breed slowly — a single calf every few years after a 13–15 month pregnancy — populations recover painfully slowly, so even modest annual losses can tip a local group into long-term decline.
Why it isn't only about dugongs
The seagrass meadows that feed dugongs also shelter fish nurseries and lock away a disproportionate share of the ocean's carbon for the area they cover. Protecting seagrass for dugongs therefore protects fisheries and helps the climate too — a rare case where saving one species pays dividends across an entire ecosystem.
What's being done — and where there's hope
Saving dugongs is less about rescuing individuals and more about protecting their meadows and keeping nets out of their path. The most effective work combines community-based patrols that deter destructive fishing and reduce gillnet entanglement, seagrass mapping and restoration, rapid response to stranded or orphaned calves, and education so coastal fishers and tourists understand how fragile these animals are. Because dugongs range across some 40 countries, lasting protection depends on local teams working meadow by meadow, backed by national protections and the international CITES trade ban.
How you can help
In Indonesia and Malaysia, dugongs cling on in small, scattered groups where a single gillnet can undo years of slow recovery. You can learn more in our dugong species guide, and a gift to WARN helps fund the local partner teams patrolling these coasts and protecting the seagrass dugongs depend on.
Read the full Dugong wildlife guide for the facts, IUCN status and conservation context — or donate to WARN to help fund the local partners protecting this species.
