prey for penguins

To stem the African Penguin's slide to extinction, government support for optimal no-take zones around South Africa's penguin colonies is critical.

- DR ALISTAIR McINNES, DR KIRSTEN DAY AND ELEANOR WEIDEMAN

BirdLife South Africa's Seabird Conservation team explains the imperative for implementing effective island closures in a bid to save the species.

The African Penguin is currently Thisted but listed as globally Endangered, but this classification is likely to change to Critically Endangered by the end of 2024. Once uplisted, it will be the most threatened penguin species in the world. At the current rate of decline, African Penguins may be extinct by 2035.

A quintessential feature of our marine and coastal environment, African Penguins attract local and international visitors to South Africa's shores. The African Penguin colony at Boulders Beach in Simon's Town is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the country and generates an estimated revenue of R310-million a year. Sadly, the number of birds visitors see at Boulders gives a false impression of a situation that has actually reached crisis proportions.

Once one of South Africa's most ubiquitous seabirds, estimated to number 1.5-3 million individuals at the turn of the 20th century, the species has lost a staggering 97 per cent of its population. In the past 30 years the number of African Penguins breeding in South Africa has declined by 73 per cent. It is estimated that there are fewer than 10,000 breeding pairs left.

Efforts to conserve the African Penguin have been extensive and include protocols to minimise the impacts of oiling and predator incursions into colonies. However, scientists have repeatedly stressed the need to secure the major driver of their survival – the sustained availability of anchovies and sardines.