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Welcome to Island Hopping in the Andaman Sea of Thailand
Dugongs in the Andaman Sea of Thailand
The dugong, (Dugong dugong) is a rare mammal, that lives along the Andaman Sea coast of the provinces Phang Nga, Phuket, Krabi, Trang and Satun. It feeds on seaweed and was a usual sight in the shallow waters some decades ago. With tin mining operations moving from the land to off-shore locations, most of their habitat was destroyed and the only place, where sightings are rarely, but still reported are the shallow waters around Libong Island.
In ancient times people mistakenly believed this sea animal to be the fabled mermaid, as portrayed in many old tales and mythological stories. Today the dugong is known as "Pla Phayun" in Thai language, but also called water hog or sea cow. It shares the same ancestors as the elephant and was originally a land creature but later went to live in the sea like the whale. The female has a pair of breasts under its flippers. It breathes with lungs and has to rise to the surface of the sea to inhale fresh air every 3 to 5 minutes. For this reason, it is found only in shallow water about 3 to 5 metres deep, where seaweed grows in abundance. The dugong has a very long life cycle. It is capable of reproduction only when it is 9 years or older. It has a gestation period of about 385 to 400 days and gives birth to one or (no more than) two young at a time. And it takes the female at least 2 years to become pregnant again after giving birth to a baby. The dugong has also been a favourite object, of fishing because almost every part of its body, flesh, bones, tusks, fat and even tears, can fetch a good price. Its flesh is delicious, its bones are believed to have medicinal properties and its tears, to give a woman the power of fascinating a man. Therefore, catching a dugong instead of a big fish would add much more to the income of the fisherman’s family. The dugong is rapidly becoming
an endangered species of marine creature, despite the fact
that a Fishing Act was proclaimed as early as 1961 putting the dugong
under the government's protection, banning its fishing and requiring
its release back into the sea even when one is caught in the net accidentally.
A campaign with drawing contests in the schools and advertising has
been started to make the rare animal well-known among the locals. Today
shopping bags of the biggest department store carry a dugong picture,
children know about this treasure and for most people in the South,
Trang Province is associated with the dugong.
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