THREATENED An African penguin with a chick at Stony Point in the Western Cape.
Image: Supplied
Had the department of forestry, fisheries and the environment closed fishing around some African penguin breeding colonies six months ago, it would likely have had a more positive effect on the penguin breeding efforts of 2022.
This is the view of four conservation organisations after an announcement by the department on September 16, that — from September 1 — it has declared some areas around the major penguin colonies closed to commercial fishing for anchovy and sardine.
The department said these restrictions follow prolonged negotiations with seabird conservation groups and pelagic fishing industry representatives.
“While these closures do not represent a consensus position between the two sectors, the department is of the view that this is the best decision we can take now to support penguin populations,” it said.
In a joint statement on Wednesday, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature, Bird Life SA, the Endangered Wildlife Trust and the Southern African Foundation for the Conservation of Coastal Birds commended the department’s announcement.
“This announcement explicitly acknowledges the importance of island closures in enhancing successful African penguin breeding efforts. It is principally based on the recommendations that were made almost a year ago jointly by state fisheries and conservation scientists.
“Had these closures been announced six months earlier, they would likely have had a more positive effect on the penguin breeding efforts of 2022,” the organisations said.
The peak breeding seasons is March-May.
The organisations said the African penguin, which is endemic to SA’s coastline, numbers have declined drastically from more than a million breeding pairs in the early 1900s in SA to around 10,000 breeding pairs.
They said the timing of the newly announced closures comes after the small pelagic industry has already caught most of its quota and, therefore, will be too late to have the intended effect, namely to reduce penguin and the industry’s competition for fish.
“More worrying is that the interim closure is only until January 14 2023, after which the industrial fishing season for anchovy and already depleted sardine stock will start again.”
The organisations said both the small pelagic fishery and the African penguin are highly dependent on these resources, but the penguins are at a distinct disadvantage as they can only forage close to their colonies when breeding.
This was because failure to meet the high energy requirements of rearing chicks results in poor chick condition, chick deaths, the abandonment of the chicks and a failed breeding attempt.
Environment minister Barbara Creecy said the closures will allow for an international scientific panel to advise the department on the value of fishing limitations for penguins’ success, as well as the affects such limitations will have on the fishing industry.
She said both sectors have committed to abiding by the recommendations of the international panel.
The organisations said a call for nominations to the panel has only just been advertised and it is unlikely this process will be completed by the time the interim closure lapses.
“We are deeply concerned that, with all these delays, we will have another breeding season come and go without any precautionary protections given to the penguins. Given the perilous and rapid decline of Africa’s only penguin species, we cannot afford another squandered year.”
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