Q Life Magazine Q Magazine December 2018 | Page 24

| Issue 5 | A dugong comes to the surface of the sea to breathe Since the inception of the project, have there been any significant findings? We actually made an alarming discovery when we started fieldwork – a significant number of dugongs were dying and stranding on Qatar’s beaches. Fishing nets or ropes impacted some of these animals – sadly, they became entangled in them and drowned. So we hope to protect them from these dangers. 24 ExxonMobil Research Qatar, in collaboration with Texas A&M University at Galveston and with support from Qatar’s Ministry of Municipality and Environment, is working on a major programme to study the conservation of Qatar’s dugong population.