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Dugongs, distant relatives of the manatee, can live as long as 70 years and grow to nearly 1,000 pounds. Yet somehow these gentle creatures are said to have fooled lonely sailors into mistaking them for mermaids. In the vibrant turquoise waters of Japan’s Henoko Bay, dugong herds once grazed peacefully on vast meadows of sea grass. But after decades of active U.S. military operations in the region, possibly fewer than 50 last Okinawa dugongs now struggle to survive.
ENDANGERED SPECIES ACT PROFILE
PROTECTION STATUS: Endangered (foreign list only)
YEAR PLACED ON LIST: 1972
CRITICAL HABITAT: Not applicable for foreign species
RECOVERY PLAN: Not applicable for foreign species
RANGE: The Pacific and Indian oceans; the coastal waters of Okinawa, Japan, comprise the northernmost range
THREATS: Habitat loss from U.S. military activities and construction, noise pollution, and marine pollution
POPULATION TREND: Fewer than 50 dugongs may remain in and around the island of Okinawa.
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SAVING THE OKINAWA DUGONG
Okinawa has been dubbed the “Galapagos of the East” for its rich cache of biodiversity. But urban development, road construction, and military operations have taken an exacting toll on the ecosystems that support its resident dugongs. Because dugongs are teetering on the brink of extinction, the Center has used innovative legal tactics to secure new protections.
In 2003, we led a coalition of Japanese and American environmental groups in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense to halt the construction of an American airbase in Henoko Bay. Since the dugong is protected under Japanese cultural properties law, the Center filed the first-ever international lawsuit under the U.S. National Historic Preservation Act to protect its last habitat.
In 2004, we helped organize a resolution by 889 of the world’s leading coral-reef experts, hailing from 83 countries, that called on the governments of Japan and the United States to abandon their plan to construct the offshore airbase. And we led hundreds of international conservation groups in calling on President Bush and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to cancel the airbase plan.
In 2005, a federal judge ruled that our lawsuit over the airbase could proceed under the U.S. National Historic Preservation Act. The international coalition reiterated opposition to the airbase and rejected an altered construction proposal by the United States and Japan that would still devastate dugong habitat. Finally, in 2008, a federal judge ruled against the U.S. Department of Defense, requiring it to consider impacts of a new airbase on the dugong in order to avoid or mitigate any harm.
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Contact: Peter Galvin
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