Management Concern: Moderate    

Adequacy of Information: Low

Summary extract from Outlook Report 2009

• Numbers of dugongs have declined drastically along the 'urban coast' but may now be stabilising. The remote coast population does not appear to have changed.
  
• Increasing coastal development is resulting in the loss of both coastal habitats that support the Great Barrier Reef and connectivity between habitats.
  

What do we know?

Relevant pages from Outlook Online include:

• Historical population estimates for dugongs in the Great Barrier Reef
• Dugong protection areas in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• Boat strikes and dugongs
• Understanding Boaters' non-compliance with speed guidelines introduced for dugong conservation in the Hinchinbrook area
• Efficacy of the voluntary vessel transit lanes in Missionary Bay, Hinchinbrook Island for dugong conservation
• Prioritising areas for dugong conservation in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park using a spatially explicit population model
• Dugong mortality in Queensland
• Assessment of risks to dugongs in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• Spatial assessment of risk to dugongs from bycatch
• PBR modelling of dugong populations along the urban coast
• Life history, pattern of breeding and population dynamics of the dugong
• Aerial Surveys for dugongs in the Southern Great Barrier Reef
• Shark control records hindcast serious decline in dugong numbers off the urban coast of Queensland
• Aerial surveys for dugongs in the northern Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait
• PBR Modelling of dugong populations along the northern Great Barrier Reef and Torres Strait
• Population Viability Analysis (PVA) of Traditional dugong harvest in Torres Strait and Cape York
• Movement heterogeneity of dugongs over large spatial scales 
• Dugong movement in the Townsville-Cardwell Region
• Development intensification and water quality pressures on the Great Barrier Reef ecosystems
• Population and recreational vessel registration growth

Existing policies and management actions

• GBRMPA Position Statement on the Conservation of Dugongs in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park [170KB]
  
• Protected Species in the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• The Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Zoning Plan
• State Coastal Management Plan 2002 
• GBRMPA involvement in coastal development planning and assessment
• Reef Guardian Councils
  
• Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999
  
• State Development and Public Works Organisation Act 1971
  
• Department of Infrastructure and Planning
  
• Regional coastal management plans 
• Coastal ecosystem protection 
• Environmental impact assessment

Future management requirements

• Planned review of Dugong Watching Policy
  
• Development of the Commonwealth Dugong Wildlife Conservation Plan
  
• Development of the Queensland Marine Mammal Conservation Plan
  
• Biodiversity strategy

Defined research questions

• There are currently no defined research questions for this topic. Research questions will be developed, giving priority to interactions/issues that are of most concern to management.

Related information

• Current Research and Monitoring