In celebration of World Penguin Day, which was celebrated on 25 April, the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (Sanccob) is sharing more on the African penguin’s unique qualities.
World Penguin Day was commemorated on 25 April – a day to celebrate these beloved birds and share insightful messages that will educate the public and raise awareness.
According to Sanccob, the African penguin is the only endemic penguin species on the African continent and is visited by locals and tourists who flock to South Africa each year to see them in their natural habitat.
“We must continue to do all that we can to protect and ultimately save this iconic species from extinction, together,” Sanccob says.
Sanccob says they have already started seeing fewer birds breeding than in previous years.
“Numbers at St Croix Island, formerly the world’s largest breeding colony and usually the first one to have active breeding penguins, have declined once again.
The organisation has expressed its’ distress at the situation.
“The decreasing numbers are alarming. We are still hopeful that the colonies on the West Coast of South Africa will have a successful breeding season, but seeing the low fish availability, we know that we should, once again, prepare for the worst,” the organisation says.
“We continue to advocate for fishing closures around main breeding colonies, together with our partners at BirdLife South Africa and WWF South Africa, so let’s hope we have more to celebrate for World Penguin Day 2023,” Sanccob says.
In partnership with WWF South Africa and Sea Change Project, they had a discussion to address the threats which challenge the existence of the endangered African penguin, following the inspiring Penguin Town series by Red Rock Films International.
What still needs to be done to prevent penguin mortality?
Sanccob says that everything that can be done on land to reduce mortality and improve breeding success is being done by managing authorities and their conservation partners, and these actions need to continue within an adaptive management framework.
There are still some aspects that require additional attention in order to reduce the African penguin population decline and promote the species’ recovery.”
One of these is improving food availability.
A 13-year project led by the South African government aims to investigate the benefit to breeding African penguins and their chicks by closing areas around islands to fishing, Sanccob says.
While results are not uniform across colonies, analyses indicate that there is a biologically meaningful benefit to these fishing closures, particularly with respect to chick survival and chick condition (parameters important to the demographic process), as well as maximum foraging distances travelled.
What is the impact of African penguins going extinct?
. Ecosystem importance:
African penguins transfer large amounts of nutrients from the ocean to their colonies, influencing the functioning of the island/colony ecosystem and adjacent marine areas.
Their guano is washed into the sea, promoting algal growth, influencing the growth of intertidal communities which support shorebirds and other marine invertebrates.
They improve access to food for other species, e.g. herding schools of fish upwards where other birds can feed on them (McInnes et al. 2017).
. Economic Importance:
The African penguin plays a significant role in South Africa’s ecotourism offering.
In the Western Cape, there are tourist attractions at the Simon’s Town colony, which includes Boulders in Table Mountain National Park, and the Stony Point colony in Betty’s Bay.
Economic benefits associated with these land-based colonies include income generated through entrance fees, job provision at the colonies as well as other benefits to surrounding areas (e.g. restaurants, accommodation, transport services).
“The total expenditure associated with the Simon’s Town colony is estimated at approximately R311 million per annum and generates 885 jobs.
“The projected future income from tourism at the Simon’s Town colony over the next 30 years was estimated at approximately R6,8 billion (pre-Covid-19 figures),” Sanccob says.
Cultural Importance
The African penguin is Africa’s only penguin species, and one of 18 global penguin species.
They are sentinels of the ocean and the African penguin is thus a symbol of South Africa’s marine ecosystem and its health.
- Participate in beach clean-ups;
- Recycle at home;
- Identify reputable conservation organisations and keep up to date with their information shared;
- Look at the WWF Sassi list (sardine is orange);
- Eat local and in-season fish;
- Reduce your meat (including fish) consumption;
- Shop better: reduce single-use plastic use and do not use plastic bags.
