Port Blair, Jan 27: On the auspicious occasion of the 72nd Republic Day of India, the CAMPA_Dugong team of the Wildlife Institute of India (WII) took their dugong awareness program, a step ahead. This time neither the stakeholders were chosen, nor did the program happened in a close knit setup with limited participants, as the dugong researchers took it by the Sea! And which place would have been ideal, other than the Flag Point at Marina Park-Port Blair, where our tri-color proudly sways with the wind!

Dugong researchers from the Wildlife Institute of India, Dehradun have been sensitizing different communities in the Island viz; fishers, forest department frontline staff, tourism allied agencies, SCUBA divers, defence bodies and school children about their state animal ‘Dugong’ since last five years! 

On the 26th January 2021, with the help of local support viz. Andaman Chronicle and Rotary Club of Port Blair, a mass sensitization program was conducted which successfully sensitized more than 300 people from the local masses.

The Program was commenced by a talk by Ms. Swapnali Gole, who has been leading the team, where she briefed the audience on basic dugong biology, threats and conservation initiatives taken by WII, to save dugongs! The team of volunteers comprised of young, enthusiastic researchers Mr. Sumit Prajapati, Mr. Sohom Seal, Ms. Esha Gokhale, Mr. Aashish Gokhale, Dr. Nehru Prabhakaran, Mr. Anoop Raj Singh, Mr. Tiru and Mr. Raja.

The minute dugong mascots entered the venue, the eager crowd received them with an overwhelming response to know more about dugongs and take selfies with these walking gentle giants!

The program was supported by the generous presence of Shri Kuldeep Rai Sharma, Member of Parliament, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, where he appealed the crowd to support the cause of dugong conservation and applauded the work done by WII team on a public forum. The MP pledged to save dugongs which are the Islands’ pride!

The program was supported by officers from the Forest department Sh. D. M. Shukla (PCCF, Wildlife), Sh. Kamal Datta (APCCF Wildlife), Sh. Naveen Kumar (DFO, South Andaman) and Smt. Nabnita Ganguly (DCF WL, Wildlife Division).     

The CAMPA_Dugong project which is funded by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change and lead by Dr. K. Sivakumar (Scientist F) and Dr. J. A. Johnson (Scientist E), is functioning across three dugong distribution ranges with the support of state forest departments namely; Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Andaman & Nicobar Islands, to save these sea mermaids!