Rumisha said that there were cases where the animals, also known as dugongs, are deliberately killed after getting caught in fishermen's nets because of various myths associated to the mammals.

"The dugong is almost extinct in Tanzania and we must act now to save the creatures from total extinction," Tanzanian marine parks and reserves manager Chikambi Rumisha told AFP.

He said there some people thought it was a bad omen to come across the dugong and killed it immediately it was spotted. Others caught the mammal for its meat because they considered it to be an aphrodisiac.

"But these are mere myths that could be addressed by reaching out to the fishermen with a message that the animals were innocent and need to be conserved," Rumisha added.

Rumisha said that the approach was applied successfully in the neighbouring Mozambique.

"It is very very clear that dugongs are now critically endangered in Tanzania, and without concerted conservation effort now, they will certainly become nationally extinct in the near future," he stressed.

The sightings of sea cows nowadays were very few in Tanzania, compared with the neighbouring Mozambique.

The Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF) warned last July that 32 sightings of sea cows were recorded since January 2000 and only eight of those were alive, the rest were dead after having been tangled in gillnets, according to the statement.

Sea cows are seal-like creatures descended from terrestial swamp browsers that lived 55 million years ago and can grow to 3.5 metres (more than 11 feet) in length and weigh 400 kilogrammes (880 pounds).

TERRA.WIRE