South Africa has taken a proactive step in wildlife conservation, introducing a 10-year agreement to establish no-fishing zones around six key breeding sites of the endangered African penguin.
This landmark initiative aligns with the global spotlight of World Oceans Day, falling on June 8 this year.
The African penguin population continues to decline, driven by overfishing of their primary food sources, sardines and anchovies, alongside human activities including increased maritime traffic and port development.
Research shows that African penguins are declining at a rate of 8 percent per year. It is feared that by 2035, African penguins will be extinct in the wild. As a result, the International Union for Conservation of Nature has listed this species as "critically endangered."
Boulders Beach, an African penguin conservation site on the Cape Peninsula in Simon's Town, Cape Town, is home to over 1,000 penguins. While it welcomes tourists as a popular attraction, many visitors remain unaware of the looming threat of extinction these penguins face.
"They should be roughly 2,000 here, but they're declining all the time. Some of the colonies have disappeared already," said Wayne, a tour guide.
A 1907 photograph reveals a thriving population of African penguins, estimated at 3 million. Over the years, human activities and environmental impact have drastically reduced their numbers to less than one percent of their historic population.
"So what they do is that they would just wipe out so much guano from the colony, and they would actually send it back to Europe, where they would use it for fertilizer. They used to call it white gold because it was so valuable. But that's illegal now, obviously. And then they also used to steal their eggs, they would use their eggs to eat. So guano is just penguin poop, and the guano is really good for keeping the heat in the nests and also to prevent the eggs from overheating. And if the guano isn't there, either the parents have to abandon the eggs because it gets too hot or the chicks die of overheating," said Tiffany Johnson, keeper of the Two Oceans Aquarium Penguin.
South Africa establishes non-fishing zones to save endangered penguins
South Africa establishes non-fishing zones to save endangered penguins
