‘Never seen a dugong swimming in Picnic Bay’: Surge in dugong sighting on Magnetic Island

Keen-eyed Magnetic Island locals are being treated to an extraordinary spectacle this winter as a booming number of dugongs have been spotted making their way close to shore. WATCH THE VIDEOS.

A dugong spotted by Destination Adventure owner Dania Clark off the Picnic Bay jetty in May

Keen-eyed Magnetic Island locals are being spoiled with a boom in dugongs coming close to shore this winter, with one long-term resident saying she’s never seen so many.

Dania Clark has lived on the island for 20 years, and in early May, she spotted a very rare sight – a dugong swimming right beside the Picnic Bay jetty.

“I had seen dugongs in the distance off the Picnic Bay jetty the weekend before, so I headed down with a group of friends in the hope of spotting them,” Ms Clark said.

“Unbelievably, as soon as we got on the jetty, there was a dugong literally just a metre off the jetty, frolicking in the shallow waters. Sensational!”

Being something of a content creator for her outdoors activity business Destination Adventure, Ms Clark got out the camera and captured some pretty incredible video.

She posted the video to the Destination Adventure Facebook page to the delight of her followers.

“I’ve been on the island 20 years and have never seen a dugong swimming in Picnic Bay before this year,” Ms Clark said.

Over the rest of May the podiatrist continued to bump into dugongs while out snorkelling, surf skiing and even flying her drone.

“Once I’d seen one I started to keep an eye out and go looking for them,” she said.

“There have been more dugongs and dugong calves this year than I can remember. Not sure why, maybe the sea grass is particularly tasty this year.”

According to Sea Grass Watch there are extensive seagrass beds around Bushland Beach, Pallarenda, Upstart Bay (near Ayr), Cape Cleveland, Bowling Green Bay and Magnetic Island.

These meadows account for approximately 18 per cent of all shallow seagrass areas mapped on the Great Barrier Reef.

The meadows are mainly in intertidal and subtidal zones, but also include a few moderately dense meadows found in sheltered bays off nearby islands such as Maggie.

Originally published as ‘Never seen a dugong swimming in Picnic Bay’: Surge in dugong sighting on Magnetic Island