Sirenian Conservation: Issues and Strategies in Developing Countries

This important scientific volume comprehensively explores the biology and ecological status of manatees and dugongs in all of the geographic regions where they can be found today, from the Caribbean to Eastern Africa, from Arabia to the Amazon, and from Japan through the South Pacific to Australia.

Many of these dwindling populations are situated in developing countries--locales that have previously received little attention in the scientific literature.

In these areas, people occupying rivers or coastlines still capture sirenians for food and other uses (oil, bones for carving, leather). In addition, disruption, erosion, or complete loss of sirenian habitat occurs because of dredge and fill, coastal run-off, chemical pollution, and damage from boat propellers.

Sirenian Conservation features contributions from an international group of scientists who are working to address the many challenges to manatee and dugong food supply, environment, reproduction, and survival. They share stories of programs that rescue, rehabilitate, release, and monitor these animals; offer reports on practical, replicable, and cost-effective management techniques; and summarize current research strategies.

Ellen M. Hines is associate professor of geography and human environmental studies at San Francisco State University. John E. Reynolds III, senior scientist at the Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, Florida, and chairman of the United States government’s Marine Mammal Commission, is author of The Bottlenose Dolphin: Biology and Conservation and Mysterious Manatees. Lemnuel Aragones is associate professor at the Institute of Environmental Science and Meteorology at the University of the Philippines. Biological oceanographer Antonio A. Mignucci-Giannoni is a research professor at the Interamerican University of Puerto Rico. An expert on the ecology of Amazonian manatees, Miriam Marmontel is a conservation biologist at the Sociedade Civil Mamirauá in Brazil.