In real life, many of the accounts of mermaid sightings were given by sailors and fishermen. One of the most well-known accounts is that of the famous explorer Christopher Columbus, found in The Northmen, Columbus and Cabot, 985–1503, where he wrote: “[o]n the previous day, when the Admiral went to the Rio del Oro, he saw three mermaids, which rose well out of the sea; but they are not so beautiful as they are painted, though to some extent they have the form of a human face. The Admiral says that he had seen some, at other times, in Guinea, on the coast of the Manequeta”.
It is believed that what sailors saw were actually dugongs; marine mammals belonging to the Sirenian family. Dugongs come to the surface to breathe and are mistaken for mermaids because of their round heads, their ability to turn their heads, and their tails, which resemble those of whales. If, in the dark or from a distant point, a sailor spots the head come up to breathe and then sees the tail as it swims back down, then it is not far-fetched that they would think that what they saw was the culturally-rooted half-human half-fish creature: a mermaid.
Dugongs live in warm shallow coastal waters in the Indian Ocean and Pacific Ocean. They are native to the Red Sea in Egypt and are sometimes seen in Marsa Abu Dabbab. Dugongs can grow up to 3 meters in length and weigh up to 500 kilograms; they can live up to more than 50 years. Dugongs are also known as sea-cows because they graze the seabed grass.
Their feeding behavior perform a major role in their coastal marine ecosystems. The constant grazing of the seagrass encourages its regrowth, which sustains this critical habitat, and reinsures the feeding sites for other marine species, including sea turtles. However, due to their slow reproductive rate and habitat loss, their numbers are decreasing and the species is marked as vulnerable.
In Egypt, aggressive coastal development without much foresight to the environmental impact poses threats to the Dugong population. These creatures need sufficient amounts of seagrass to feed on; yet, chemical pollutants resulting from coastal development end up in the sea, damaging their delicate ecosystem and threatening their food supplies. Dugongs end up putting off mating and reproduction, which is trouble to their population size and their numbers dwindle dramatically.
Some organizations champion the dugongs of Egypt, one of which is an NGO known as Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA). In 2007, HEPCA joined hands with the Red Sea Governorate and the Ministry of Environment to develop a management strategy to protect the bay of Marsa Abu Dabbab. They agreed to prevent the free ranging of motorized boats in the area, since dugongs can be hit or caught in fishing nets. They also stationed rangers whose job is to enforce the management strategy and raise public awareness about dugongs and the need to protect and conserve their environment.
The sea is a wonderful resource of lore and marine life. While stories keep us captivated across the ages, we must not forget the actual source that inspired them in the first place. Especially when it is sorely in need of protection as pollution and climate change take their toll. While mermaids are not real, dugongs are, and we owe it to them to keep it that way.
References
britannica.com
gutenberg.org
hepca.org/
instagram.com
nationalgeographic.com
oneearth.org
rmg.co.uk/
worldwildlife.org
Braham, Persephone, et al. Scaled for Success: The Internationalisation of the Mermaid. Edited by Philip Hayward, Indiana University Press, 2018.
Bacchilega, Cristina, and Marie Alohalani Brown. The Penguin Book of Mermaids. Penguin Classics, 2019.
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