Dugongs face severe welfare threats from drowning in fishing nets, seagrass habitat loss, boat strikes, and climate change affecting their specialized feeding habitat.
Dugong welfare is inseparable from the health of seagrass ecosystems. When seagrass is degraded or lost, dugongs must travel further to find food, increasing energy expenditure and exposure to boat strike and entanglement risk. Net drowning is acute and distressing — the same air-breathing dependency that makes dugongs such specialized marine mammals makes entanglement immediately fatal. Climate-driven seagrass loss is creating food security crises for dugong populations in already-stressed regions. Each welfare harm faced by dugongs — drowning, strikes, starvation from habitat loss — is directly attributable to human activities, making prevention a matter of human responsibility and choice.