Review of stranding records of megaherbivore the Dugong (Dugong dugon, müller, 1776) in the Gulf of Kutch, India- an implication to the conservation of marine mammals in Gujarat

Abstract

In India, dugong populations and their habitats are under pressure from several factors, including seagrass degradation caused by high turbidity and pollution, ghost nets, bycatch, poaching, fragmentation of seagrass habitats, and climate change. We reviewed the strandings of vulnerable Dugongs (Dugong dugon, Müller, 1776) in the Gulf of Kutch, Gujarat with prevailing threats factors. Dugong strandings data was collected through the Friends of Dugong Network, established in the Gulf of Kutch, to promote citizen science to recover obscure dugongs and records from the published literature. We could document 24 incidents of strandings with 29 dugongs between 1877 and 2022. In the Gulf of Kutch, dugong mortality incidents were reported with discontinuous occurrences, and the causes for their strandings were also unknown. However, fisheries bycatch and ghost nets in the seagrass meadows seem to be major causes for recent strandings of dugongs.