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by Ronald Jabal
Mang Carding was just about to set sail for his daily routine of gathering bangus fry in the pristine waters of Barangay Mapalad, Dinalungan Aurora, when he saw two large white sea animals rolling side by side in the shallower, low-tide areas of the water, engaged in an almost playful banter.
Focused more on gathering bangus fry that day, taking advantage of the lantapin season where calmer seas prevail, Mang Carding almost ignored the antics of these sea visitors.
But his jaw dropped when he moved closer and found out these are not regular sea creatures but what they have recently found out as dugongs or sea cows – thanks in part to mass media and to the information given by local officials.
He was witnessing a dance of joy- dugong style. Dugongs are unique marine mammals that have distinct distinguishing marks: wedge-shaped tail that is deeply notched at the midline, hence in ancient times seafarers have mistakenly called them mermaids.
They have front flippers. Males have two tusks (the upper incisors) that may grow as long as 10 inches. Adult dugongs can grow up to three meters long and weigh more than 400 kilograms.
What Mang Carding witnessed was indeed, a dance of joy, confirmed Fisheries Technologist Alex de Vera of the Municipality of Dinalungan. Himself a witness of numerous dugongs sightings, de Vera has even seen butandings in the area, previously referred to, by local fisherfolk, as “camouflage” (as in the military uniform called camouflage”), owing to the spots on the skin of this mammoth sea animal.
It is a “dance of joy”, de Vera said, because it is in Dinalungan that these dugongs have found an abundance of food – the seagrass called Halophila spinulosa.
“Ang Dinalungan po ay isa sa may pinakamalaking sea grass reserves sa Pilipinas kung kaya’t nandito po ang mga dugong. Kumbaga parang naging feeding ground na ang Dinalungan, Aurora ng mga dugong, (Dinalungan has one of the biggest sea grass reserves in the Philippines. Hence, it has become the feeding ground of dugong)” de Vera said.
Dinalungan is located at the northern part of Aurora province, 80 kms from Baler, the provincial capital. It is bounded on the northeast by Casiguran municipality, on the northwest by Quirino Province, on the southeast by Casiguran and on the southwest by Dipaculao municipality.
De Vera’s observation was confirmed by a study called the Participatory Coastal Resources Assessment (PCRA). The PCRA was conducted by a multi-sectoral study group composed of members of the local community, the officials of the Dinalungan Aurora and technical experts from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
In the PCRA study, it was disclosed that a meadow of the seagrass Halophila spinulosa at the deeper portions of the coastal municipality was found and is believed to be one the largest sea grass reserves in the country and in the world.
“The new finding would place Dinalungan on the global map, holding the northernmost record of H. spinulosa occurrence,” the study said. The study furthered that these sea grass meadows along the Dinalungan coastline could be critical areas as ‘refueling’ stations for dugongs and marine turtles migrating north and south of eastern Luzon. “
Without these ‘refueling’ stations, albeit thin and scarce, the migrating endangered herbivores might not be able to make it to areas where food is bountiful.
Hence, the municipality of Dinalungan has two strong reasons to protect and conserve these scarce H. spinulosa meadows: (1) world’s northernmost record of occurrence of the species, and; (2) these meadows are probably critical ‘refueling’ stations of dugongs and turtles frequently sighted in its waters.
By creating ordinance(s) and programs protecting these beds will not only keep its place on the global map (being the northernmost place where H. spinulosa is found) but also will ensure the continued existence of the endangered dugongs and marine turtles,” the study concluded.
The sightings of these dugongs in Dinalungan, Aurora are of significant importance to marine conservationists as data from late 90s showed that these sea mammals can only be seen in very few places namely Palawan, Romblon, Guimaras and Davao Oriental. There were also reported sightings in Catanduanes, Mindoro, Cuyo, Iloilo and Pandan, Antique.
Since 1982, the International Union for Conservation of Nature-World Conservation Union classified dugong as vulnerable to extinction.
Mang Carding was just about to set sail for his daily routine of gathering bangus fry in the pristine waters of Barangay Mapalad, Dinalungan Aurora, when he saw two large white sea animals rolling side by side in the shallower, low-tide areas of the water, engaged in an almost playful banter.
Focused more on gathering bangus fry that day, taking advantage of the lantapin season where calmer seas prevail, Mang Carding almost ignored the antics of these sea visitors.
But his jaw dropped when he moved closer and found out these are not regular sea creatures but what they have recently found out as dugongs or sea cows – thanks in part to mass media and to the information given by local officials.
He was witnessing a dance of joy- dugong style. Dugongs are unique marine mammals that have distinct distinguishing marks: wedge-shaped tail that is deeply notched at the midline, hence in ancient times seafarers have mistakenly called them mermaids.
They have front flippers. Males have two tusks (the upper incisors) that may grow as long as 10 inches. Adult dugongs can grow up to three meters long and weigh more than 400 kilograms.
What Mang Carding witnessed was indeed, a dance of joy, confirmed Fisheries Technologist Alex de Vera of the Municipality of Dinalungan. Himself a witness of numerous dugongs sightings, de Vera has even seen butandings in the area, previously referred to, by local fisherfolk, as “camouflage” (as in the military uniform called camouflage”), owing to the spots on the skin of this mammoth sea animal.
It is a “dance of joy”, de Vera said, because it is in Dinalungan that these dugongs have found an abundance of food – the seagrass called Halophila spinulosa.
“Ang Dinalungan po ay isa sa may pinakamalaking sea grass reserves sa Pilipinas kung kaya’t nandito po ang mga dugong. Kumbaga parang naging feeding ground na ang Dinalungan, Aurora ng mga dugong, (Dinalungan has one of the biggest sea grass reserves in the Philippines. Hence, it has become the feeding ground of dugong)” de Vera said.
Dinalungan is located at the northern part of Aurora province, 80 kms from Baler, the provincial capital. It is bounded on the northeast by Casiguran municipality, on the northwest by Quirino Province, on the southeast by Casiguran and on the southwest by Dipaculao municipality.
De Vera’s observation was confirmed by a study called the Participatory Coastal Resources Assessment (PCRA). The PCRA was conducted by a multi-sectoral study group composed of members of the local community, the officials of the Dinalungan Aurora and technical experts from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
In the PCRA study, it was disclosed that a meadow of the seagrass Halophila spinulosa at the deeper portions of the coastal municipality was found and is believed to be one the largest sea grass reserves in the country and in the world.
“The new finding would place Dinalungan on the global map, holding the northernmost record of H. spinulosa occurrence,” the study said. The study furthered that these sea grass meadows along the Dinalungan coastline could be critical areas as ‘refueling’ stations for dugongs and marine turtles migrating north and south of eastern Luzon. “
Without these ‘refueling’ stations, albeit thin and scarce, the migrating endangered herbivores might not be able to make it to areas where food is bountiful.
Hence, the municipality of Dinalungan has two strong reasons to protect and conserve these scarce H. spinulosa meadows: (1) world’s northernmost record of occurrence of the species, and; (2) these meadows are probably critical ‘refueling’ stations of dugongs and turtles frequently sighted in its waters.
By creating ordinance(s) and programs protecting these beds will not only keep its place on the global map (being the northernmost place where H. spinulosa is found) but also will ensure the continued existence of the endangered dugongs and marine turtles,” the study concluded.
The sightings of these dugongs in Dinalungan, Aurora are of significant importance to marine conservationists as data from late 90s showed that these sea mammals can only be seen in very few places namely Palawan, Romblon, Guimaras and Davao Oriental. There were also reported sightings in Catanduanes, Mindoro, Cuyo, Iloilo and Pandan, Antique.
Since 1982, the International Union for Conservation of Nature-World Conservation Union classified dugong as vulnerable to extinction.
