PUERTO PRINCESA CITY—An eight-foot-long sea cow that was stranded in a lagoon in a coastal barangay (village) here was rescued by a group of fishermen on New Year’s Day, according to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

Fisherman Henry Barlas found the sea cow, locally called dugong, trapped by low tide in the lagoon fronting his house in Barangay Maruyogon. He sought the help of other local residents to nurse it back to health before it was eventually released to deeper waters.

The community named the dugong “Enero” (January).

The WWF, which runs a dugong conservation program in northern Palawan, attributed the successful rescue of the endangered marine mammal to its information drive targeting fishing communities in the province’s coastal areas.

Barlas and a companion, Paquito Abia, tied a rope around the dugong’s midriff to keep it in waist-deep water and allow it to recuperate from stress, per the account of WWF project manager Mavic Matillano.

She said the fishermen were aware that the dugong was a protected species and knew what to do under the circumstances.

“We barely needed to do anything. Both Henry and Paquito acted out of instinct, and for this we are doubly proud. It seems that the long years of conducting dugong awareness campaigns have once again paid off,” Matillano said.

The community that assisted the two fishermen in the early-morning rescue of Enero cheered when it was coaxed out of the lagoon after an inspection conducted by the WWF staff.

Uncommon occurrence

“Marine mammal stranding is an uncommon occurrence, but it does happen. Fortunately, it seems the people know what to do when a stranding does take place,” WWF dugong specialist Sheila Albasin said.

She said the original dugong project was based in Roxas, about 180 kilometers north of Puerto Princesa, but that “it seems the lessons we imparted have traveled far and wide.”

The gentle dugong inhabits the waters of the Indo-Pacific, wherever sea grass is most abundant. It is the fourth member of the order Sirenia, alongside the three manatee species.

A fifth species, the 8-meter-long Steller’s sea cow (Hydrodamalis gigas), became extinct in 1768, just 27 years after being discovered.

Sizeable herds of dugong—the source of mermaid lore—once plied Philippine waters until hunting and habitat degradation wiped out the majority.

But thriving populations are now protected in the northern province of Isabela, in Southern Mindanao and in Palawan.

Vulnerable

Dugongs are thought to live up to 70 years, but females give birth to a single calf every few years.

Calves take up to 15 years to mature.

Dugongs are classified by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the global authority on protected animal species, as “vulnerable” and are among the species that the WWF protects globally.

In 1994, the WWF established a marine mammal rescue network that has been monitoring stranding incidents and spearheading rescues of dugong accidentally entangled in fishing equipment.