- New aerial survey data reveals a shocking 50 per cent decline in dugong numbers in the Gulf of Carpentaria, one of the world’s most important dugong populations.
- Estimates show the Gulf-wide dugong population has fallen from around 10,000 in 2007 to around 5,000 in 2025.
- Majority of dugong decline occurred in the Queensland side of the Gulf, with the Queensland Government needing to invest in monitoring to understand drivers of mortality and implement solutions.
- The Northern Territory Government needs to immediately remove gillnet fishing from habitats critical to dugongs as the first step in their commitment to phase-out of commercial barramundi gillnetting.
A 50% decline in the Gulf of Carpentaria dugong population estimate is a wake-up call for urgent action to protect dugongs in the Gulf, based on surveys undertaken by researchers from James Cook University, Charles Darwin University and Indigenous Ranger groups.
After the Torres Strait, the Gulf of Carpentaria supports the second largest population of dugongs in the world.
Dr Leonardo Guida, marine biologist at AMCS said: “A 50 per cent drop in one of the world’s most important dugong populations is a genuinely alarming result, and the research indicates the majority of the declines is occurring in the Queensland side of the Gulf.
Dugongs are long-lived, slow to breed, and slow to recover. A loss on this scale requires urgent action if we’re to give these incredible animals a chance to recover.”
Scientists and Indigenous rangers state that the decline appears to be driven by a combination of pressures, including the loss of seagrass, the dugong’s sole food source, following severe weather events that scientists say are being intensified by climate change, as well as bycatch in commercial gillnet fisheries.
“Dugongs have no idea what a state border is so it’s crucial that the NT Government not only deliver the gillnet phase-out they’ve committed to at the end of next year, but start immediately with prioritising habitats critical to dugongs in the Gulf as gillnet free areas – especially given the risk of concentrated fishing in those areas.
“We need to understand exactly what’s happening on the Queensland side of the Gulf, where the reported dugong declines are significantly higher. The Queensland Government’s implementation of net free areas in the Gulf are critically important for dugong recovery, but greater monitoring of dugongs, their seagrass habitats and any mortality events from fishing is critical to understand the drivers of decline. If the data says more needs to be done in Queensland waters, then we need the Queensland Government to act.”
AMCS is calling on the Queensland and Northern Territory governments to implement their respective Gulf of Carpentaria Inshore Fishery and Barramundi Fishery reforms without delay, including the recommendations put forth by Traditional Custodians and the protection of seagrass meadows; and for collaboration with the Commonwealth Government into resourcing ongoing dugong monitoring and protection of critical habitats.
