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10 Dugongs in Arabia Anthony Preen, Himansu Das, Mohammed Al-Rumaidh, and Amanda Hodgson In the Arabian region dugongs occur in the Red Sea and the Arabian (Persian) Gulf (map 10.1). They are known locally by a variety of names: bugarah al bahr (cow of the sea: Bahrain, Qatar, and UAE); arus al bahr (bride of the sea: Gulf and central Red Sea coasts of Saudi Arabia, and Bahrain); taweelah (southern Red Sea coasts of Saudi Arabia and Yemen); al jild (skin or leather: at Wejh in Saudi Arabia and Hurgadhr in Egypt); and naqat al bahr (camel of the sea: northern Red Sea)1. Dugongs have long been utilized in this region. Documented harvesting of dugongs goes back at least 7,000 years2. However, the significance of dugongs in the diet and culture of the local people has lessened in recent decades, as the people became more affluent. Early literature suggested that the dugong populations in the . . ... .. ....... .. . .. . . . . . . . ... . . . . .. . .... . .. . ...... . . . . UNITED ARAB EMIRATES .Jiddah .Umm Lajj .Al Wejh . .Al Luhaiyah EGYPT SUDAN ERITREA ETHIOPIA SAUDI ARABIA JORDAN SYRIA ISRAEL IRAQ IRAN KUWAIT YEMEN OMAN QATAR BAHRAIN OMAN Red Sea Arabian Sea Gulf of Oman Persian Gulf Strait of Hormuz Al Lith Sinai Peninsula Mediterranean Sea Gulf of Aden Dugong Habitat Along the Arabian Coasts .Sanaa . Aden . Muscat Qesham Island . . . . . ... .. ..... ... . . . . . . Tiran Islands . Uqair . Ras Tannurah .Yanbu Al Bahr .Al Qunfudhah .Jizan Dahlac Islands Farasan Islands Socotra Island 20 20 45 45 Coastal Habitat Range Historic Distribution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . 250 miles 400 kilometers N Map 10.1. Dugong habitat along the Arabian coasts. (Map by Ellen McElhinny.) 92 Section I: Regional Issues in Sirenian Conservation Arabian region had declined3 and the species was seen as rare and endangered4. History of Research Efforts Apart from Gohar’s5 treatise on dugong anatomy and diet, based on carcasses of dugongs caught along the northern Egyptian coast, little research focused on dugongs in the region until the 1980s, when it was stimulated by one of the world’s worst oil spills—the Nowruz oil spill. In 1983, during the Iran-Iraq war, a ship collision and military activity resulted in oil discharge from seven wells in the offshore Nowruz oilfield in the northern Arabian Gulf. Heavy crude oil discharged at an estimated rate of 15,000–20,000 barrels per day. The major spill continued from 24 January 1983 for eight months, until the first of three wells was capped6. By February 1984, 1.2 million barrels had been released, and although the flow had slowed, it had not stopped7. Among much other wildlife, 37 dugongs were found stranded along the coasts of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain. Prior to this spill, in 1975 and 1976, a preliminary boat and helicopter survey of dugongs in the waters around Bahrain had noted dugongs on only three occasions, and the largest number seen was “about 50”8. After the carcasses were found following the Nowruz oil spill, the unpublished figure of “about 50” was, apparently, taken as the whole Gulf population9. The dugong population was believed to be at a critically low level10. Responding to worldwide concern, Saudi Arabia’s Meteorology and Environmental Protection Administration (MEPA) initiated a Dugong Replenishment Project in 1985. Ironically, the number of dugongs killed during the oil spill was much greater than suspected at the time— an estimated 150 following adjustment for areas not searched, the distribution of dugongs, and the dispersal pattern of the oil11—but the population of dugongs was also much greater than assumed. On the assumption that dugongs in the Arabian Gulf were on the brink of extinction, the Dugong Replenishment Project initially envisaged repopulating the Gulf with dugongs caught in the Red Sea. The project was soon refined, however, to focus on assessing the dugong population through aerial survey, habitat assessment, and interview surveys. It was subsequently expanded to include the eastern coast of the Red Sea12. Between 1985 and 1988 the MEPA dugong study conducted three major strip-transect aerial surveys: two that covered virtually all the dugong habitat in the countries in the Arabian Gulf and a third, in 1987, that covered most of the dugong habitat of the eastern Red Sea. Many shoreline aerial surveys, beach surveys for skeletal material , and interview surveys were also undertaken. The great strength of this project was the willingness of the Saudi Arabian government to fund survey work in other countries and the willingness of other countries to host this work. The MEPA dugong project surveyed the waters of Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Qatar...

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