Two more dugongs have been found dead in the sea off the southern province of Krabi, bringing the total number of deaths to 15 in the past two months.
One carcass was found floating in the sea in Chao Ooth Bay of Ko Lanta district by fishermen, while the other was found in the sea off Nua Khlong district. No wounds were found on their bodies and it is believed that they died of starvation, due to the rapid depletion of seagrass in their feeding grounds.
Of the 15 dead dugongs, four were found in seas off Phuket, four each in the seas off Trang and Krabi and three in Satun province.
Ruangdet Klongdee, chief of a crab bank learning centre in Ko Lanta district, urged relevant agencies to address the problem of seagrass shortage urgently, adding that people in his community have been experimenting with the cultivation of seagrass in their abandoned shrimp farms.
Thon Thamrongnawasawat, a marine expert at Kasetsart University disclosed, meanwhile, that an average of 12 dugongs were found dead each year for the past decade.
The death toll increased, however, to 40 last year and 36 in the first 11 months of this year, he noted.
Their deaths were mainly due to the acute shortage of seagrass, which is mainly due to global warming and human activity.
