Seagrass, a major food source for dugongs, has been steadily disappearing from the seas off Thailand’s southern province of Trang, raising concerns among marine scientists and conservationists over the fate of the sea mammals.
The accumulation of sediment, from the dredging of the Kantang waterway for navigation and business development, is assumed to be a cause of the steady dying off of the seagrass, but further studies are needed to pinpoint the exact cause or causes, according to Santi Nilawat, director of the marine and coastal resources research centre (southern Andaman Sea).
He said that a survey, conducted in Ao Kham in front of Pak Meng pier in 2021, found seagrass covered more than 80 hectares of the seabed, but another survey last year found a depletion of seagrass in six areas, he added.
He added, however, that the gradual loss of seagrass may not, for the time being,…
