Meeting Abstract
The marine environment of Qatar is ideal for supporting large populations of dugongs and sea turtles. In fact, Arabian dugongs (Dugong dugon constitute the world’s 2nd largest population. However, little is known regarding their natural history in the region. Therefore, we have begun collecting life history data that will provide information to wildlife managers within Qatar. Dugong work focused on beach surveys for stranded animals where we collected morphometrics, determined gender, and collected tissues for reproductive staging and genetic analyses. Dugongs range from Saudi Arabia to the UAE. The region between Qatar and Bahrain has been reported as particularly important for dugongs. Our data shows a high frequency of strandings on the northwest Qatari coast and supports this observation. All strandings have been female, including one pregnant dugong. Longer-term studies have been ongoing in the region on hawksbill (Eretmochelys imbricata) and green sea turtles(Chelonia mydas). Turtles were captured, fitted with satellite tags and released after morphometrics and tissue were collected. Morphometrics of mature hawksbill sea turtles suggest they are among the smallest of their species worldwide. Hawksbills use both coastal and shallow offshore habitats throughout the southern Arabian Gulf. Green sea turtles were young juveniles, stayed within coastal waters, and are likely using Qatar as developmental habitat. Interestingly, sea turtle telemetry suggests a strong affinity of sea turtles for this same area off the Qatari northwest coast that is known to be important for dugongs. This region may be a hotspot for both sea turtles and dugongs and warrants further investigation.
