Mongabay Series: Oceans
CAPE TOWN — The endangered African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) could become extinct in the wild in just over a decade. To protect the bird’s food source and stem its population collapse, South Africa is putting up a protective cordon banning fishing in the surrounding area. their main breeding colonies. But the devil is in the details, and environmentalists say time is running out to get the policy underway before the early 2024 deadline.
South Africa’s seabird advocates have had to carry out a series of rescue operations in years, collecting thousands of hungry chicks of African penguins, gannets (Morus capensis) and Cape cormorants (Phalacrocorax capensis) from key breeding colonies after they were abandoned by their hungry parents. For conservationists, those rescues show how the birds’ main food source, anchovies (Engraulis encrasicolus) and sardines (Sardinops sagax), are disappearing from their feeding grounds.
Food shortages are one of the main threats, although not the only one, that have led to a drop in the number of African penguins over the past three decades. Africa’s only endemic penguin has declined by about three-quarters since 1991, according to a 2021 study. census. There are currently around 10,000 breeding pairs left, compared to more than a million a century ago, and the species will be functionally extinct until 2035 if the current rate of population decline (currently a constant 8% per year) continues, according to the Ministry of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE), whose estimates are based on continuous population monitoring.
Birds are wasting food because of festivals advertising purse seine fishing and as small pelagic fish populations collapse in reaction to changing ocean conditions, with carbon pollutants raising air and ocean temperatures.
To address this threat, the DFFE, South Africa’s Department of the Environment, announced on August 4 that it would close the penguins’ main feeding grounds around the country’s peak breeding colonies to purse seine fishing for a period of 10 years, starting January 15, 2024. .
The closures will be held year-round, rather than for fast seasons as originally called for through the fishing industry. This is to give the adults enough time to feed before and after their annual three-week molting period, during which they will have to consume fat reserves since they can’t go to sea to feed. This will also allow parents to feed their chicks year-round: while the species’ breeding season peaks between March and May, many pairs breed outdoors during this window, especially if they have a momentary clutch of eggs.
However, seabird advocates worry that the proposed boundary lines won’t be large enough to ensure the birds have feeding areas.
Minister Barbara Creecy oversaw a consultation procedure in which seabird advocates and the fishing industry hoped to reach agreement on the main points of the proposed closures, but the protracted procedure has stalled.
As time ran out for penguins, Creecy implemented transient fishing closures around the six largest breeding colonies in September 2022, founded in spaces demarcated through his department’s in-house scientists. These settlements grow larger along the country’s southern coast, from Cape Town to the port city of Gqeberha: Dassen Island, Robben Island, Stony Point, Dyer Island, St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg, St. Petersburg,John’s, Cross Island and Bird Island. La imprint of the temporary closure is expressed to colony situations.
In December 2022, the Minister appointed an independent panel of foreign experts to break the deadlock between the fishing industry and conservation organizations, and tasked the organization with weighing the potential benefits of closures for penguin conservation against the more likely prices of advertising fishing. industry. .
In its July 2023 report, the specialist panel recommended that any closures continue throughout the year and remain in place for six to ten years so that ongoing population monitoring can measure the effect on bird recovery. In response, Creecy announced on Aug. 1 that the closures would remain in place from early 2024 to the end of 2033 (with a review in 2030), unless the various stakeholders agree to replace them before the start of Jan. 15.
“But those lines are not good,” Alistair McInnes, director of the seabird conservation program at the nonprofit BirdLife South Africa, told Mongabay. “In some cases, they make up less than a portion of the main [feeding] areas, so it’s very unlikely that they’re going to be effective. “
BirdLife South Africa is one of several conservation teams working with the government and fishing industry to define the main points of closures.
The Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds (SANCCOB), another non-profit working on this conservation measure along with BirdLife South Africa, WWF South Africa and the Endangered Wildlife Trust, say the proposed closure lines require more work. Teams percent a sense of urgency to negotiate expanded footprints before January.
“In our opinion, the existing closures are sufficient,” Katrin Ludynia, head of studies at SANCCOB, told Mongabay.
Many developing threats have added to the decline in penguin populations in recent decades. The loss of breeding sites along the coasts of Namibia and South Africa was one of the first, especially when fertilizer harvesting wiped out island colonies of centuries-old layers of guano in which birds burrowed. to build their nests.
More recently, major oil spills, avian influenza, predation by wild cats and pets, and extreme weather conditions damaging exposed nests have all contributed to penguin declines. Environmentalists have also identified a dramatic localized risk similar to noise pollutants such as refueling ships. in Algoa Bay, off the coast of Gqeberha. The domain is a hub for maritime traffic, but it’s also home to two of the hardest-hit breeding sites: the St. Louis colonies. Croix and Bird Island.
The policy of ending the fishery is not a panacea, according to the Environment Ministry, the specialized organization and conservationists, and is just one of many measures needed to ensure the penguin’s survival. And with the 10-year deadline to extinction fast approaching, conservationists warn that any further delay in crafting and implementing a proper conservation policy could have catastrophic consequences for the African penguin.
Banner image: The endangered African penguin (Spheniscus demersus) could be extinct in the wild in just over a decade. Image via Pam Ivey via Unsplash (public domain).
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Quote:
Sherley RB, Crawford RJM, Dyer BM, Hagen C. , Upfold L. , McInnes A. , Masotla MJ (2021). Updated population trajectories and conservation of the African penguin in South Africa following the 2021 census. Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment Report FISHERIES/2021/JUL/SWG-PEL/46. Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment. 6pp. Available: https://www. documentcloud. org/documents/24036454-fisheries_2021_jul_swg-pel_46-update-on-ap-pop-trajectory?responsive=1
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