THE endemic African Penguin numbers have declined drastically from approximately 52 000 pairs in 2004 to 13 200 pairs in 2019. If current population trajectories continue, African Penguins could be functionally extinct within 15 years.
The African Penguin population is exposed to a multitude of stressors. These include a lack of available food, predation, climate change, disease, disturbance, shipping vessel activity, competition with other predators for food, as well as the availability and quality of breeding habitat. These may all have individual, combined and cumulative impacts on the penguins.
The decline of the penguin population has resulted in public concern and various requests have been made to address the conservation and protection of African Penguins. This iconic Southern African species was classified as endangered by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) in 2010.
Key fishing industry and conservation stakeholders will be part of high level meeting this week, hosted by the Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Barbara Creecy, to discuss proposals made to address the decline in the breeding populations of the African Penguin, on the one hand, while on the other, attempting to minimise the negative economic impact of such proposals on South Africa’s pelagic fishery.
Earlier this year, the Minister set up a joint task team from the Department and SANPARKS to determine management options for the African Penguin based on available evidence, and NEMA principles of conservation, precautionary approach and balancing ecological and socio-economic interests.
The process followed recognised that the African Penguin population is in a critical situation and urgent action is needed to stop further decline. It is also recognised interventions around breeding colonies will need limit economic implications for the Small Pelagic Fishery sector, an important fisheries sector.
The colonies identified for intervention are at Dassen Island, Robben Island, Stony Point, and Dyer, St. Croix and Bird Islands. These are not the only existing colonies, but have been identified because they support larger numbers of breeding penguins. Together these islands are home to about 88% of breeding pairs of African Penguins along the South African coastline.
