The dugong is a strange creature. Also known as the sea cow, it looks like a cross between a tuskless walrus and a giant seal. Lovesick sailors in the 18th century mistook them for mermaids - a testament more to the seafarers' desperation than to the animals' resemblance to the female form.
Dugongs are found in warm waters around the world, including along the coast of Queensland. For hundreds of years, these gentle giants have been hunted by Aborigines and the islanders of the Torres Strait, the strip of water separating the northern tip of Queensland from Papua New Guinea. Under special laws, indigenous groups are still allowed to hunt dugongs, prizing the animal's meat and roasting it for feasts, birthdays and other special occasions.
But research released this week suggests that the dugong is being hunted to extinction. A study by the Australian Fisheries Management Authority found that Torres Strait islanders are taking up to 1,000 a year - a rate which is no longer sustainable.
The fisheries minister, Ian Macdonald, said 'urgent measures' need to be taken to stop the 'mass slaughter'. 'The time has come when there can't simply be an exemption for indigenous people,' he said. 'If we don't do something, there will be a catastrophe. I think many island leaders know it.'
Similar conflicts are being played out around the world - in the Pacific northwest of the United States, for instance, where native American tribes are fighting for the right to hunt whales.
Torres Strait islanders say commercial fishermen are also responsible for killing dugongs, which accidentally get caught in nets.