- Jan 20, 2001
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This is really sad . . . dugongs are essentially Pac Rim manatees . . . slow, social creatures. Hunting one of these is marginally more difficult than hunting a 18oz T-bone at the grocery store.
CAIRNS, Australia (Reuters) - Populations of turtle and dugong, or seacow, are dropping drastically around Australia's Great Barrier Reef because of chemical runoff from farmland and overhunting by Aborigines, officials said on Friday.
But traditions are breaking down, a black market in dugong and turtle meat has emerged and modern technology such as motorized boats has made it easier to hunt the vulnerable dugong.
"In my day, we used to row boats, and the meat wasn't wasted. Now it's too easy to get dugong and turtle with white man's technology," said Gordon Pablo, a respected elder of the Injinoo community at Bamaga, at the tip of Cape York Peninsula.
Aboriginal elders said around 60 cattle in a herd of 100 migrating dugongs were recently massacred for their breastbones.
This is really sad . . . dugongs are essentially Pac Rim manatees . . . slow, social creatures. Hunting one of these is marginally more difficult than hunting a 18oz T-bone at the grocery store.