Dear colleagues, A new tagging program on dugongs is planned in 2006 in the lagoon of Mayotte (Mozambique Channel). This program will assess fine scale habitat use, preferences and activity budget of dugongs in a tropical lagoon ecosystem. This would also provide information on the critical home range of this endangered species. This project will be conducted by the Marine Mammal Observatory, in collaboration with James Cook University (Queensland, Australia) and the University of la Rochelle (France). We are actually thinking about the catching technique, and we would rather use nets (of a very small mesh size) than the rodeo technique, considering local environmental characteristics. The use of nets for dugong capture has never been used, but this technique has been used for West Indian manatees.Then, I would highly appreciate any advises to apply a similar protocol for dugongs, with probable adaptations due to different behavioural response of these two species. Many thanks for your collaboration! Jeremy KISZKA (jeremy.kiszka@wanadoo.fr) ___________________________________________________ Jeremy KISZKA, research fellow Marine Mammal Observatory, Mayotte (western Indian Ocean) French Wildlife Service & Agricultural and Forestry Office BP 103 F-97600 Mamoudzou, Mayotte (FRANCE)