IMPORTANCE OF DUGONG TO MANKIND
Dugongs are hunted throughout their range of meat and it has been linked to veal. They are also hunted for their oil, hides for leather and also for their bones and teeth. The dugongs’ bones and teeth are made widely into ivory artifacts and charcoal for sugar refining. Some Asian cultures prize dugong products for medicinal purposes.
Along the coasts of Thailand, the people consider the meat of the dugong to be very delicious. The dugongs are hunted in the past for various uses and importance. The Thai villagers believe that the dugong skin, bones, tears, tusks have their own function and are beneficial for them. These parts have aphrodisiac, protective, anti-rheumatic and other medical properties. However, high price would be paid for these body parts. For example, a set of tusks may be sold at a price of 10,000 Thai baht. Into perspective, in 1999 the average salary in Thailand was 6600 baht per month and the monthly salary of a farmer, hunter, and fisher was 3050 baht per month.
This situation had become a polemic in 1995, when a Thai newsletter reported this phenomenon. They announced that these tusks are sometimes sold for 100,000 Thai baht. Through village officials, trades are done openly and directly form the fishers. Then, these buyers will resell them to an amulet-maker and they shall obtain double or triple the profit. If this matter goes out of hand, our next generation will only know the existence of these creatures through books and manuscript. They shall lie as pre-existing animals after the dinosaurs and dodo.
Although the uses of dugong body parts as medicine and amulets is current in some areas, the image of the dugong as a symbol for coastal conservation is becoming popular. In Trang Province, the large population of dugongs can be found. These dugongs are considered as a flagship species and they symbolize the awareness of the importance of marine environment which are actually spreading and growing.
Nateekanjanalarp and Sudara told a legend on Libong Island in Trang Province where a woman became a dugong because she was cravings for seagrass pods. Then she returned to her husbands as a mermaid and followed by being a dugong. Based from this legend, it is claimed that the tears of the dugong are a powerful love potion. Some people would pay for just these potions which has not proof regarding its function as a potion.
