Paper short abstract:

We aim at reviewing the historical exploitation of dugongs in parts of their geographical range, based on documental sources for the early modern and modern periods. This will be put in close connection with local cultural contexts and with current populations’ extirpations and conservation.

Paper long abstract:

The industrialisation was a major historical transition moment in the exploitation of the marine environment and diverse marine resources and stocks, including the extractions of marine mammals across the globe. Both the transformation into industrialized practices and techniques, and the intensification of traditional ones, led to an increased effort in the populations exploited. Prior to that, another important threshold was the moment of the European expansions and colonisations. We will explore the case-study of the exploitation of dugongs (Dugong dugon) in the Indo-Pacific Region, supported by a systematic review of the literature produced about or related to the topic. We will identify moments of disruptions in populations and ecosystems, as in the local, traditional, and indigenous realities. We will also address gaps of information and provide perspectives to understand the long-term exploitation and use of these marine mammals, once targets of extractions, today icons of conservation. This is particularly relevant in a moment when the evidence of extirpations – or functional extinctions of local populations (e.g. Japan, China) - poses significant impact on the global trends in the numbers of dugongs across their regional range. As part of the project 4-OCEANS: Human History of Marine Life, we expect to produce a global overview of sirenian’s extractions, its drivers, and natural and cultural impacts and, at the same time, to give new historical information and contextualization that may contribute to practices leading to the species conservation.