, Egypt Dugongs are found in warm coastal waters from the western Pacific Ocean to the eastern coast of Africa, between 26° and 27° to the north and south of the equator. Today, populations of dugongs are found in the waters of 37 countries and territories. and large numbers are also found in wide and shallow mangrove
channels and around
leeward sides of large inshore islands, where seagrass beds are common. this reef area houses a stable population of around 10,000, although the population concentration has shifted over time. Large bays facing north on the Queensland coast provide significant habitats for dugong, with the southernmost of these being
Hervey Bay and Moreton Bay. where a re-establishment of a local population through range expansions has started recently.
Persian Gulf The
Persian Gulf has the second-largest dugong population in the world, inhabiting most of the southern coast, A 2017 study found a nearly 25% drop in population since 1950. Reasons for this drastic population loss include illegal poaching,
oil spills, and net entanglement. The resident population around
Mayotte is thought to number just 10 individuals. In
Mozambique, most of the remaining local populations are very small and the largest (about 120 individuals) occurs at
Bazaruto Island, but they have become rare in historical habitats such as in
Maputo Bay and on
Inhaca Island. The Bazaruto Island population is possibly the last long-term viable population in East Africa, with only some of its core territory lying within protected waters. In
Tanzania, observations have recently increased around the
Mafia Island Marine Park where a hunt was intended by fishermen but failed in 2009. In the
Seychelles, dugongs had been regarded as extinct in the 18th century until a small number was discovered around the
Aldabra Atoll. This population may belong to a different group than that distributed among the inner isles. Dugongs once thrived among the
Chagos Archipelago and
Sea Cow Island was named after the species, although the species no longer occurs in the region. There are fewer than 250 individuals scattered throughout Indian waters. A highly isolated breeding population exists in the
Marine National Park, Gulf of Kutch, the only remaining population in western India. It is from the population in the Persian Gulf, and from the nearest population in India. Former populations in this area, centered on the
Maldives and the
Lakshadweep, are presumed to be extinct. A population exists in the
Gulf of Mannar Marine National Park and the
Palk Strait between India and
Sri Lanka, but it is seriously depleted. Recoveries of seagrass beds along former ranges of dugongs, such as the
Chilika Lake have been confirmed in recent years, raising hopes for re-colonizations of the species. The population around the
Andaman and Nicobar Islands is known only from a few records, and although the population was large during British rule, it is now believed to be small and scattered. including the establishment of
a seagrass sanctuary for dugong and other endangered marine fauna ranging in
Guangxi. Despite these efforts, numbers continued to decrease, and in 2007 it was reported that no more dugong could be found on the west coast of the island of
Hainan. Historically, dugongs were also present in the southern parts of the
Yellow Sea. The last confirmed record of dugongs in Chinese waters was documented in 2008. In August 2022, an article published on
the Royal Society Open Science concluded that dugongs were
functionally extinct in China, which was based on a large-scale interview survey conducted across four southern Chinese maritime provinces (
Hainan,
Guangxi,
Guangdong, and
Fujian) in the summer of 2019. In Vietnam, dugongs have been restricted mostly to the provinces of
Kiên Giang and
Bà Rịa–Vũng Tàu, including
Phú Quốc Island and
Côn Đảo Island, which hosted large populations in the past. Côn Đảo is now the only site in Vietnam where dugongs are regularly seen, protected within the
Côn Đảo National Park. Nonetheless, dangerously low levels of attention to the conservation of marine organisms in Vietnam and Cambodia may result in increased intentional or unintentional catches, and illegal trade is a potential danger for local dugongs. In Thailand, the present distribution of dugongs is restricted to six provinces along the
Andaman Sea, and very few dugongs are present in the
Gulf of Thailand. The Gulf of Thailand was historically home to a large number of animals, but none have been sighted in the west of the gulf in recent years, Dugongs are believed to exist in the
Straits of Johor in very small numbers. The waters around
Borneo support a small population, with more scattered throughout the
Malay Archipelago. Recently, the local marine trash problem in the archipelago remained unabated and became the biggest threat to the already dwindling population of dugongs in the country. Litters of plastic waste (single-use sachets,
plastic bottles,
fast food to-go containers, etc.) and other non-biodegradable materials abound in the coastal areas. As these materials may be mistaken as food by dugongs, these may lead to death due to plastic ingestion. Overpopulation and lack of education of all coastal fisherfolk in the Philippines regarding marine trash are harming the coastal environment not only in
Palawan but also across the islands of the
Philippines. The first documented sighting in
Sarangani Bay occurred in July 2024. Populations also exist around the
Solomon Islands and
New Caledonia, stretching to an easternmost population in
Vanuatu. A highly isolated population lives around the islands of
Palau.
Northern Pacific Today, possibly the smallest and northernmost population of dugongs exists around the
Ryukyu islands, and a population formerly existed off Taiwan. around
Okinawa. New sightings of a cow and calf have been reported in 2017, indicating a possible breeding had occurred in these waters. A single individual was recorded at
Amami Ōshima, at the northernmost edge of the dugong's historic range, more than 40 years after the last previous recorded sighting. A vagrant strayed into a port near Ushibuka, Kumamoto, and died due to poor health. Historically, the
Yaeyama Islands held a large concentration of dugongs, with more than 300 individuals. On the
Aragusuku Islands, large quantities of skulls are preserved at a
utaki that outsiders are strictly forbidden to enter. Dugong populations in these areas were reduced by historical hunts as payments to the
Ryukyu Kingdom, before being wiped out because of large-scale illegal hunting and fishing using destructive methods such as
dynamite fishing after the Second World War. In March 2025, a fisherman accidentally caught a dugong in his nets at Fenniaolin in
Yilin County in northeast Taiwan, which he released back into the sea. This was the first sighting of a live dugong in Taiwan waters in 88 years. Populations around Taiwan appear to be almost extinct, although remnant individuals may visit areas with rich seagrass beds such as
Dongsha Atoll. Some of the last reported sightings were made in
Kenting National Park in the 1950s and 60s. There had been occasional records of vagrants at the
Northern Mariana Islands before 1985. It is unknown how much mixing there was between these populations historically. Some theorize that populations existed independently, for example, that the Okinawan population was isolated members derived from the migration of a
Philippine subspecies. Others postulate that the populations formed part of a super-population, where migration between
Ryukyu,
Taiwan, and the Philippines was common.
Extinct Mediterranean population It has been confirmed that dugongs once inhabited the water of the
Mediterranean possibly until after the rise of civilizations along the
inland sea. This population possibly shared ancestry with the Red Sea population, and the Mediterranean population had never been large due to geographical factors and
climate changes. The Mediterranean is the region where the
Dugongidae originated in the mid-late
Eocene, along with the
Caribbean Sea. ==Ecology and life history==