INTRODUCTION

Dugong (Dugong dugon) is a species in the Family Dugongidae, Order Sirenia. It is the only herbivorous mammal that strictly inhabits the sea. Dugong cousins in the Family Trichechidae, the Amazonian manatees (Trichechus inunguis), are strictly riverine in habitat. While the West Indian (Trichechus manatus) and West African (Trichechus senegalensis) manatees, though commonly venture to the sea, they are considered only secondarily marine. There are 5 subfamilies known under the Dugongidae family, however, the Steller’s sea cow (Hydromalis gigas) became extinct in recent times, leaving the dugong as the only survivor today. Although the animal is widely distributed in the coastal and island waters of the Indian and Pacific region, the populations have been categorised as vulnerable to extinction by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) and listed in Appendix I of CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora). According to Marsh (1993), over much of the dugong’s range, it is now represented by relict populations separated by large areas where it is close to extinction if not already extinct.

In the East Malaysian states of Sabah and Sarawak, dugong is locally known as ‘duyung’, means mermaid, and many older folks believed that the animal to have been originated from human being (Jaaman and Lah-Anyi 2002). Sometimes, it is also known as ‘babi laut’ (sea pig) or ‘lembu laut’ (sea cow). Duyung has also been mentioned in Reeves et al. (1992) that this Malayan-Javanese word probably means ‘sea pig’ and Kataoka (1994) reports that it means ‘beautiful girl’. Dugong population in the coastal waters of Sabah is resident and probably undergoing local movement only. The population seems likely shared in the north with the Island of Palawan and in the east with the Southern Sulu (Philippines) and Kalimantan, Indonesia. Throughout Borneo, dugongs were recorded from Cape Datu, Lawas, and Limbang in Sarawak (Bank 1931; Jaaman et al. 2000a; Jaaman et al. 2001), Muara, Brunei Darussalam (Elkin 1992), Labuan Island and Sabah (Jaaman 2000; Jaaman et al. 1999; 2000b), and Kalimantan (Tas’an et al. 1979; Marsh et al. In press). This paper compiles information on dugong distribution and abundance, and highlight threats affecting the animals in East Malaysian waters.