Dugong Habitat Project:
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The subtidal seagrass meadow in the Sibu group of Islands, Johor, is a feeding ground for the largest known population of dugongs in Peninsular Malaysia. However, the survival of these obligate herbivores is of concern because of their small population size and increasing reports of mortality.
In this current project, we ask whether dugongs prefer to feed in some parts of the meadow over others and why. We use a geographical approach, by mapping dugong feeding trails across seasons and by relating seagrass and sediment properties to feeding patterns. Find out more in our paper (Heng et al 2022). This project is a part of Harris Heng Wei Khang's Master of Philosophy (Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences) research work, under the supervision of Jillian Ooi (University of Malaya) and Louisa Ponnampalam (MareCet). |
This work is funded by the University of Malaya Research Grant RP 019-16SUS (2016 - 2018), and by contributions from the MareCet Research Organization. The University of Western Australia and Winthrop Professor Dr Gary Kendrick provided the underwater tow video used for the feeding trail mapping.
The results of this study have been used to support on-going efforts by MareCet, a local marine mammal NGO, to protect dugongs in the study area via the GEF Dugong and Seagrass Conservation Project (Project MY4). |
How it began
The University of Malaya's involvement with research on dugongs began in 2005 via the the University of Malaya Maritime Research Centre (now the Institute of Ocean and Earth Sciences), in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program and Titan Chemicals. By conducting aerial surveys, social surveys, and seagrass habitat mapping, the presence of dugongs in the eastern and southern waters of Johor was confirmed*. This stimulated research interest in these herds, and the Johor State Government began considering establishing dugong sanctuaries. Today, Johor has become a focal area for dugong research and conservation by multiple agencies and NGOs.
Click here to read Hilary Chiew's account of this project.
Click here to read Hilary Chiew's account of this project.
*The primary aim was to re-confirm that dugong populations first observed by Dr Helene Marsh and the Department of Fisheries Malaysia in 1999, were still present in Johor waters in 2005.
What we think Rupert Birkin really meant:
“Don't you find it a beautiful clean thought, a world empty of people,
just uninterrupted (sea)grass, and a (sea)hare sitting up?”
― Rupert Birkin in D.H. Lawrence's Women in Love (1920)