Dugongs functionally extinct in China

Devastating loss: Dugongs no longer found in China’s coastal waterways.

HONG KONG: The dugong, a gentle marine mammal that has frequented China’s southern waters for hundreds of years, has become functionally extinct in the country, a new study said.

Research by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) and the Chinese Academy of Sciences said fishing, ship strikes and human-caused habitat loss have seen the number of dugongs decrease rapidly from the 1970s onwards.