Sunday, March 25, 2007 Dugong watch By Stella A. Estremera
OUT there in Malita, Davao del Sur are families of dugongs (Dugon dugong) swimming by the beach while residents swim, fish, and collect shells. The slow-moving sea cows wave their mermaid-like tails as they move to deeper waters or flash their ocher-brown skins as they ride the waves, unperturbed by the presence of the people in the water and on the beach, maintaining a distance akin to what you keep between people in your neighborhood who are not among your circle of friends: close, but not so close.
They should too, because these dugongs live in the waters of barangay New Argao; a source of fascination for their visitors and a regular sight for residents.
Last March 15, visitors and residents alike can get a better view of these endangered marin mammals as the local government of Malita with the barangay council of New Argao, the Southern Philippines Agri-Business and Marine and Aquatic School of Technology (Spamast) with the Akkeshi Marine Station of the Hokkaido University and the Nagao Natural Environment Foundation of Tokyo, Japan inaugurated a dugong watchtower as part of a collaborative research project.
With the watchtower in place, both residents and visitors can observe the dugongs at a vantage point without disturbing the marine creatures.
The project is aimed to bring more interest on the endangered species and the biodiversity of the marine environment necessary to sustain these gentle giants.
The Akkeshi Marine Station of the Hokkaido University is on the shore of Akkeshi Bay, facing the Pacific Ocean. It was founded in 1931 for biological researches on marine organisms.
Nagao Natural Environment Foundation, on the other hand, is a non-government organization promoting nature conservation in developing countries, which has shown keen interest on researches on ecology of seagrass bed communities and other marine and brackish plants and animals.
For now, it's just a watchtower. But for a species that is continuously threatened by human activities, the watchtower is a tool for the dugong's survival.
