The divers told The Dodo that the two dugongs caught in the cage were a female and her calf.
The fisherman had tied a rope around the female’s fin so she couldn’t escape from the cage, though her calf was allowed to swim around the cage untethered.
This cruel arrangement was the fisherman’s way of making money off of tourists, charging them to take pictures of the animals.
“He asked for some money if we want to see the dugong or take a picture,” diver Delon Lim told The Dodo.
Lim and his friends agreed to pay the fisherman, but as soon as they returned to the shore, they contacted the Indonesian authorities.
Keeping dugongs in captivity is illegal and thanks to Lim and his friends, the authorities raided the fisherman’s cage and released the two dugongs.
Dugongs live their entire lives in the sea, often near the coast because they rely on seagrass for their diet. The timid animals rarely exceed 9.8 feet (3m) long and typically weigh around 551 lb (250kg).
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