NESP MaC Project 3.10 – A partnership approach to filling key knowledge gaps on dugongs in northern Australia using novel technologies, 2023-2026 (JCU, CDU, DBCA)

This record provides an overview of the NESP Marine and Coastal Hub small-scale study - Project 3.10 – A partnership approach to filling key knowledge gaps on dugongs in northern Australia using novel technologies . For specific data outputs from this project, please see child records associated with this metadata.

In Australia, the dugong is protected under the EPBC Act 1999 as a listed migratory, and listed marine species, it is also a Matter of National Environmental Significance. The dugong is culturally significant to the coastal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of northern Australia and has a high biodiversity value. This project includes five activities that will contribute to addressing key knowledge gaps about the spatial and temporal patterns in the distribution, abundance, connectivity and health of dugong populations. The project is designed to inform management in several regions of high value habitat across northern Australia. Transversal to the activities described below is a strong partnership approach with Traditional Owners and members of the wider community. The project will be co-designed, co-produced and will co-deliver research and monitoring outputs. The studies will utilise and advance emerging technologies (e.g., aerial images collected from planes and drones, Artificial Intelligence, population genomics) with the ultimate goal of enhancing data quality, reducing research and monitoring costs, and increasing accessibility of monitoring tools to non-experts.

Activity 1: Assessing trends in the distribution and abundance of dugongs during the transition to imagery surveys along the eastern coast of Queensland
Activity 2: Assessing the trends in the distribution and abundance of dugongs during the transition to imagery survey in the Shark Bay and Ningaloo/Exmouth Gulf area
Activity 3: Using population genomics approaches to identify populations and their level of connectivity across northern Australia
Activity 4; Assessing the body size and body condition of dugongs using drone-based photogrammetry
Activity 5: Developing community-led dugong monitoring with traditional owners in the Kimberley region.

Planned Outputs
• Dugong sighting location and count data from observer aerial survey data [spatial dataset]
• Imagery from aerial surveys and photogrammetry
• Genomic sequencing data and tissue samples
• Statistical code or script files
• Final technical report with analysed data and a short summary of recommendations for policy makers of key findings [written]
• Peer-reviewed open access publication