Cape Town: The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment (DFFE), has moved to close fishing around penguin colonies for a minimum of 10 years to protect African penguins which are on the brink of extinction.
Minister, Barbara Creecy, made the decision following an Expert Review Panel report on fishing closures and limitations around key penguin colonies.
According to the report, the population of African penguins breeding in South Africa has been declining rapidly, approximately 8% per annum, since 2005 and is consequently at a high risk of extinction in the wild in the coming decades.
“The African penguin is critically endangered. If this situation is not addressed, with current rates of population decline, science tells us these iconic creatures could be functionally extinct by 2035,” said Creecy.
She said competition for food is thought to be one of a set of pressures that are contributing to the decline of the African penguin population. Other pressures include ship traffic and its associated noise and vibrations, pollution, and the degradation of suitable nesting habitats.
Professor Andre Punt, one of the panellists, said closures of forage-fish fishing around penguin colonies would be likely to benefit penguin conservation but would need to be part of a larger package of conservation measures as such closures alone are unlikely to reverse the current declines.
“If designated, closed areas to protect penguins should be reviewed at a time when results are available to investigate life-history processes such as juvenile recruitment, adult survival, and hence population growth rates. This may be between 6 and 10 years after designation. Other reasons to review such closed areas might include major socio-economic changes in the fishery and processing, stock abundance, or similar consequences of prey resource change,” said Punt.
He said continued communication, collaboration, and transparency of research data and analyses are strongly encouraged to build trust and strengthen progress towards seeking acceptable solutions. Working collaboratively will further enhance the effectiveness and social acceptability of management measures and decisions aimed at mitigating the decline of the African penguin.
The minister said the species, which is endemic to South Africa and Namibia, has decreased from more than a million breeding pairs to just about 10 000 pairs over the last century.
“Following the report of the Export Review Panel, I have taken a decision to implement fishing limitations in the waters around penguin colonies for a minimum of 10 years, with a review after 6 years of implementation and data collection,” said Creecy.
She added: “Fishing limitations are established for the following penguin colonies: Dassen Island, Robben Island, Stony Point, Dyer Island, St. Croix Island, and Bird Island. The transition to implementing fishing limitations will continue with the current interim closures, while both the fishing industry and the conservation sector study the Panel’s Report.”