Management Concern: Moderate    

Adequacy of Information: Moderate

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.
  
• Some pollutants such as heavy metals can persist for decades in the marine environment. They are known to accumulate in dugongs.
  

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
• 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
• Frequency of reported strandings increases after big rain events
• Impact of anthropogenic noise on marine mammals
• Development intensification and water quality pressures on the Great Barrier Reef ecosystems
• Scientific consensus statement on water quality in the Great Barrier Reef 
• Reef exposure to river contaminants ecosystem risk index 
• Catchment influence on the Great Barrier Reef 
• Global contamination by persistent organochlorines and their ecotoxicological impact on marine mammals 
• Heavy metal accumulation in marine mammals
• Organochlorine and heavy metal concentrations in dugongs 
• New polybrominated dimethoxybiphenyls (PBDMBs) in marine mammals 

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
  
• Regional coastal management plans
• Improving water quality
• Coastal ecosystem protection
• Water Quality Guidelines for the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park
• Regional water quality improvement plans

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