In a joint operation, the Wildlife Institute of India (WII), Tamil Nadu Forest department and Omcar Foundation rescued and released an adult female Dugong, which had got entangled in a fishing net in the Palk Straits at Keezhathottam near Peravurani in Thanjavur district.
Local fisherman Balamurugan and five of his colleagues were fishing in the high seas on Thursday when they inadvertently caught a full grown Dugong, weighing about 500 kg. Finding that the marine mammal had got entangled in the net, they pulled it gently to the shore after alerting the WII officials.
Thanks to the ‘Friends of Dugong’ a capacity building training programme launched by WII involving fishermen in the coastal districts, the fishermen cut a portion of the net so that the mammal could reach the surface and breath till the officials arrived.
K. Madhu Magesh, Researcher, WII, said the teams reached the spot around 4 a.m. and released the mammal back into the sea with the help of fishermen. He said the 10 ft long Dugong was found to be healthy. District Forest Officer Gurusamy, Forest Range Officer M. P. Mohan, WII researcher Rukmini Sekar and Balaji of Omcar Foundation coordinated the rescue operation, he said.
Appreciating the ‘good Samaritan’ role played by the fishermen, the WII has proposed to honour them and compensate for the fishing net at a function, he said. The 100 volunteers in the ‘Friends of Dugong’ network alerted the officials and helped in the rescue operations, he added.
This was the fifth animal to be rescued in four rescue operations since 2016, he said. Last year, the officials had rescued a mother and calf in an operation. In July this year, the officials had rescued a 12 feet long adult Dugong after it was caught in a fishing net at Manalmelkudi, also in Thanjavur district.
