DURING a recent PE Express visit to St Croix Island, off the coast of Nelson Mandela Bay, it was a challenge trying to spot the penguins that once upon a time densely populated this island.
Once the boat, operated by eco-marine cruisers, Raggy Charters, got as close to the island as possible, one would see a few penguins scattered here and there, but hardly anywhere close to the population of 20 000 that called the island home even as recently as seven years ago.
PE Express previously reported about the dangers of the African Penguin potentially becoming extinct – with breeding pairs decreasing up to 80 percent on this island, according to Raggy Charters marine conservationist, Lloyd Edwards.
The island is supposed to be home to the world’s largest African Penguin colony, but most of the penguins have very recently died out, and marine conservationists believe that this is mainly due to bunkering (ship-to-ship fuel transfers) taking place in the area.
Edwards explained that when he started doing this work 25 years ago, there were 60 000 penguins on the island.
“Just before ship-to-ship bunkering started, about seven years ago, there were approximately 23 000 and now since the bunkering we counted approximately 5 000 last year,” he said.
“Breeding season is March and April so only after that will we be able to do another census,” he added.
On the way to the island, there was ship-to-ship bunkering taking place.
Raggy Charters skipper and guide, Jake Keeton, explained that some ships do not want to make the trip all the way to the harbour to refuel.
“It saves them docking fees, if they refuel at sea. That is why another ship would pull up next to them and give them fuel.
However, this fuel sometimes spills into the water, endangering the penguins,” he said.
Raggy Charters guide, Purity Khosa, explained that overfishing used to also be an issue, because there would not be fish in the area for the penguins and they would have to swim further and dive deeper to find food.
“By the time that they got back to the island, they would not have any food left in their bodies to regurgitate and feed their chicks and most of them would die,” she explained.
This is why fishing in the area has been prohibited, and it has been declared a marine protected area.
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