Goodbye African penguins?

By | Published 1 April 2010

---

• Print
• Email
• Bere

Six penguin species can be seen along our coastline, but the African penguin is the only resident and regularly observed in southern Africa. Although it may venture further, as far as Gabon in West Africa, it breeds only here.

Downward spiral. The African penguin is in serious trouble. In 1910, for example, there were 1,45 million adults on Dassen Island alone; in 2001 there were only 7 000 adults. Today, the world population numbers fewer than 28 000 pairs.

More than a century ago the penguin population came under pressure due to egg collecting, with more than two million eggs being collected between 1897 and 1905. Guano-scraping also caused disturbance at the breeding sites and forced the penguins to nest on the island surface, rather than in burrows. But today, the biggest threat is a lack of food, especially sardines and anchovies. Penguins compete with both industrial fisheries and Cape fur seals for food. Also, a change in water temperatures has seen changing patterns of fish movements within Cape waters. Less food has resulted in poorer breeding success and lower juvenile survival. Oil spills also kill penguins. It’s estimated 50 000 penguins were oiled between 1968 and 2001. And cats, gulls, seals and sharks that feed on penguins, as well as diseases like avian malaria take their toll. Because of all this, the African penguin will soon be listed as “endangered”.

Help is on the way. Many organisations are involved in African penguin conservation and one of the big pushes now will be to look at the impact of a decline in fish stocks on the penguin population and to see what can be done about this, including the possibility of nofishing zones around penguin breeding colonies.

Penguin spotting. Boulders Beach at Simon’s Town and Stony Point near Betty’s Bay in the Western Cape are good places to see African penguins, with the sites offering superb photographic opportunities.

Back to whats new