Dugong (Dugong dugon) Surveys Using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Drone) in Lawas, Sarawak of East Malaysia

Fixed-wing single rotor Skywalker 2015 drone with 3-hours flying endurance was used to determine the distribution and density of Dugong (Dugong dugon) at the seagrass meadow in Lawas, Sarawak of East Malaysia from May 2016 to... [ view full abstract ]

Fixed-wing single rotor Skywalker 2015 drone with 3-hours flying endurance was used to determine the distribution and density of Dugong (Dugong dugon) at the seagrass meadow in Lawas, Sarawak of East Malaysia from May 2016 to October 2017. The drone powered by 16 Volt, 4 cell Lithium-Ion batteries and fitted with GoPro Hero4 or GoPro Hero6 camera with 128 GB micro-SD memory card to record video footages during the flight missions. The drone flies autonomously according to pre-loaded flight mission using Ardu-Pilot software with 70 m elevation and ground speed of 42.5 km per hour (12 m/s). The survey area is divided into four flight mission survey sectors ranging from 3.6 to 4.1 km² namely Kebab Putus-Sari Damit (Sector A), Sari Damit-Bukit-Sari (Sector B), Bukit Sari-Kuala Lawas (Sector C) and Kuala Lawas-Bangkulit (Sector D). After 68.8 hours of total survey efforts (8 flight missions per sector), a total of 10 sightings with 16 dugongs were recorded (0.15 sighting/hour). Most of the sightings were recorded in Sari Damit-Bukit Sari sector B with four sightings and eight individuals.